Fans Accuse TWD: Daryl Dixon Of Shamelessly Copycating The Last of Us

The Walking Dead 's most recent spin-off TV series, Dead City, which aired from June 18 to July 23, 2023, felt like a breath of fresh air for fans of the show compared to the main series and other underwhelming spin-offs.

And it seems the franchise is on the right track, as early reviews for the upcoming The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon have just arrived, unanimously praising the solo adventures of Norman Reedus' fan-favorite character.

However, one aspect of the show has puzzled and even infuriated some fans, as it seems to them to be a shameless rip-off of HBO's The Last of Us TV series (or the story of the original game).

According to the show's premise, Daryl is tasked with escorting a young girl through zombie-infested France, as she may be humanity's last chance at survival. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Anyone who is even remotely familiar with the story of The Last of Us will notice that it is absolutely identical to Daryl Dixon's, with stern smuggler Joel tasked with escorting young Ellie across the United States, as she is immune to the fungal infection that has ravaged the world.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, The Walking Dead spin-off's executive producer, Greg Nicotero, acknowledges the similarity.

Although he seems to imply that it is purely coincidental, saying that "we were already deep into production when The Last of Us came out" and claiming that he has only seen the first episode of the series.

Fans don't buy this excuse at all, calling it "pathetic" because it can be debunked in an instant, considering that the original video game came out a decade ago in 2013, was hugely successful, and got an equally well-known sequel in 2020.

While the "bitter adult takes care of teen/child in post-apocalypse" trope is not that uncommon, fans say that Nicotero's attempts to pretend he never heard of the game and only watched one episode of the show are just laughable.

The fact that the girl Daryl must protect is supposedly immune to the zombie infection only adds to the similarity, making it highly unlikely that this is a mere coincidence.

Although it in no way detracts from the quality of the storytelling, such apparent dishonesty only annoys fans who feel that the writers should have just admitted that they were inspired by Joel and Ellie's story.

The first episode of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon will be released on September 10, 2023.

Sources: Entertainment Weekly, Reddit