Summary
- The upcoming spin-off “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon” bears a striking resemblance to “The Last of Us,” continuing the trend of the franchise borrowing ideas from other popular zombie stories.
- Executive producer Greg Nicotero’s excuse that they were already deep into production when “The Last of Us” premiered doesn’t hold up, as the game has been around for a decade.
- While there are similarities between “Daryl Dixon” and “The Last of Us,” the spin-off takes place in Paris, offering a different setting, and Daryl will be uncovering his backstory as he navigates the zombie-filled city.
The upcoming spin-off The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is shaping up to be suspiciously similar to The Last of Us, and this isn’t the first time The Walking Dead has copied another popular zombie story and used ignorance as an excuse. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon takes place after the flagship show’s finale episode as Daryl washes up on the shores of France, where the zombie outbreak originated. Daryl is tasked with escorting a young girl, who might be the key to curing the zombie virus and saving humanity, across a post-apocalyptic wasteland – much like Joel in The Last of Us.
Executive producer Greg Nicotero has said (via Entertainment Weekly) that he was surprised when The Last of Us premiered and its first episode set up the exact same premise as The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Nicotero said, “We were already deep into production [on Daryl’s spin-off] when The Last of Us came out.” But that excuse doesn’t really hold up, and it’s the same excuse used by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman when the comic was noted to share similarities with another popular zombie story.
Daryl Dixon’s The Last Of Us Similarity Repeats TWD & 28 Days Later
This isn’t the first time that The Walking Dead has exhibited similarities with other zombie stories bordering on plagiarism. The opening of The Walking Dead – both the comic and the TV adaptation – sees Rick Grimes awakening in a hospital, long after the zombie apocalypse has started, and finds the building eerily empty. The exact same opening can be seen in the movie 28 Days Later. Kirkman used the same excuse back then; he said he hadn’t seen 28 Days Later until The Walking Dead was already in print. Daryl Dixon’s similarities with The Last of Us are just repeating Walking Dead history.
Why Walking Dead’s Copycat Excuse Doesn’t Work
Kirkman’s excuse might hold up, because 28 Days Later wasn’t released in U.S. theaters until just a couple of months before the first issue of The Walking Dead hit shelves, but Nicotero’s similar excuse doesn’t hold up. He said that Daryl Dixon was already in production when The Last of Us premiered on HBO, but The Last of Us existed in video game form for a decade before being adapted for television. The brains behind Daryl Dixon had plenty of time to familiarize themselves with one of the most acclaimed and iconic video games ever made before they started work on the spin-off.
How Daryl Dixon’s Walking Dead Spinoff Is Different From The Last Of Us
In broad strokes, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon might sound like the exact same show as The Last of Us. It’s about a gruff antihero in a post-apocalyptic world who has to evade zombies as he delivers a special child who could save humanity. But there are a few differences that could set Daryl Dixon apart. The Last of Us takes place across the United States, whereas The Walking Dead spin-off is set in the very different locale of Paris. And while Joel knows exactly where he came from, Daryl will be piecing together his backstory as he explores zombie-infested France.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
