Syfy's 'Z Nation' vs. 'The Walking Dead': The Same or Different?

Syfy hopes to take a page from AMC’s The Walking Dead and find ratings gold with its new zombie drama Z Nation.

Z Nation, picked up straight to series, hails from Eureka producer Karl Schaefer and centers on the struggle to save humanity after a zombie apocalypse. While AMC’s ratings juggernaut focuses on rebuilding humanity rather than finding a cure for the mysterious outbreak. The AMC series is adapted from Robert Kirkman‘s graphic novels, with the creator never interested in making his show or comic about finding a cure or explaining the origin of the outbreak.

Judging from Syfy’s Z Nation trailer, that seems to be the main difference between the two series as a human seems to have survived a bite from the undead. On Walking Dead, meanwhile, Eugene (Josh McDermitt) claims to know how to cure the outbreak (though comics fans know otherwise).

THR takes a look at the original Walking Dead trailer and Syfy’s newly released Z Nation clip to see how both series compare — and shocker! — they’re pretty close.

Journey to Washington? Check. (Though on The Walking Dead, the pilot journey is to Atlanta and Washington comes later.)

No cure? Check.

Bearded hero? Check. (Andrew Lincoln vs. Tom Everett Scott)

Zombies in tight spaces? Check. (Hospital vs. jail.)

Creepy child zombie? Check.

Check out both trailers below, and hit the comments with your thoughts. Z Nation bows Friday, Sept. 12, at 10 p.m. on Syfy. The Walking Dead returns Sunday, Oct. 12, at 9 p.m. on AMC.