On the example of “The Walking Dead”, we demonstrate in how far the reception of pop culture narratives can serve not merely trivial entertainment, but epistemological interest as well. For this purpose, we introduce the term pop cultural secondary worlds and formulate the thesis that these can be used analogously to thought experiments. The worlds realized in the narratives offer backgrounds against which hypothetical formulations can be made and non-trivial insights gained. This perspectivization is methodically enticing because the worlds described are – in contrast to classic thought experiments – shaped by analogous, complex relationships to our reality. From a content perspective, the appeal lies in the taking in of two mutually conditional perspectives: “Scientifically informed” questions asked of the secondary worlds allow for retrospective perspectivizations of our reality. Questions which are “reflexive of science”, on the other hand, allow for the further development of current theories along the possibilities and boundaries of a different reality.