The Walking Dead was originally planned to be a tie-in to the classic zombie film by George A. Romero, Night of the Living Dead. Robert Kirkman’s iconic comic series is famous for reviving interest in zombies, particularly the slow-moving ghouls featured in George Romero’s original film. However, while The Walking Dead – by Kirkman and artists Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard – became famous for paying homage to Romero’s famous 1960s film, Kirkman originally planned for the series to be tied directly to the events of the movie.

According to Comic Book Resources, the original plan for The Walking Dead was for it to be a continuation of Romero’s famous ’60s horror film. In its original pitch, “the book was set in the 1960s, even including the newscaster from the original film.” Due to Night of the Living Dead being in the public domain, Robert Kirkman saw this as an opportunity to help boost the comic through name recognition, especially since he wouldn’t need to pay anyone royalties at the time.

Had Robert Kirkman kept his original idea for the series intact, the comic would have ended up being incredibly different once the first issue hit comic stands.

The Walking Dead Could Have Been Entirely Different with Robert Kirkman’s Original Living Dead Plan

The Franchise Would Be Unrecognizable Today Had These Changes Gone Through

By binding The Walking Dead to the continuity established in Romero’s original film, the execution of the series would have made it completely different from how fans remember it today. For starters, the comic would likely have been restricted to a short period of time. The original film’s ending suggests that the zombie problem was turning a tide by morning with a firing squad successfully overpowering, killing, and burning the living corpses. Had the comic been a tie-in, it would face the pressure of addressing this story beat.

Limiting what would become The Walking Dead to being a tie-in to Night of the Living Dead put the story at risk.

By far the biggest change, though, would be the way the comic depicts zombies. Zombies in the original Night of the Living Dead appear more like hypnotized ghouls with very little gore hanging from them, making them indistinguishable from the human characters and playing into the social commentary present in Romero’s film. While they would have “originally devolved” over time, which is a concept that did eventually make its way to the final comic, there’s no denying that the main draw of the series would be completely different from the rotted corpses fans know them to be now.

Jim Valentino Encouraged Robert Kirkman to Make The Walking Dead an Original Story

The Comic Gets a Major Overhaul Following Some Helpful Criticism

When sharing his concept with Image Comics co-founder Jim Valentino, he received some praise for wanting to bring back zombies through the comic medium. However, limiting what would become The Walking Dead to being a tie-in to Night of the Living Dead put the story at risk. So, Valentinto suggested that it would be a better idea to “come up with his own original concept, and thus Kirkman would own it entirely.” It was a helpful piece of constructive criticism that helped Kirkman get on the path to creating one of the most influential horror comics ever made.

The entirety of the original Walking Dead comic by Kirkman, Moore, and Adlard is available now in a variety of collected editions from Image Comics/Skybound.

Another piece of advice Valentino gave to Kirkman also helped give The Walking Dead its own sense of identity through its zombie design. He was told to make them look more like zombies that fans were familiar with to help grab their attention from the start. This choice ultimately worked to the comic’s benefit as the zombies’ morbid designs made them feel original for the comic they came from. There’s nothing quite like the Walkers and their biology from The Walking Dead, and they never would have come to be without Valentino’s advice.

Robert Kirkman Keeps The Walking Dead‘s Living Dead Roots Alive in His Story

Classic Living Dead Tropes Work Their Way Into the Comic

While Robert Kirkman ended up abandoning the idea of making a tie-in to Night of the Living Dead, the influence of the beloved film continued to live on through the story. One of The Walking Dead‘s biggest twists – that humans turn into zombies no matter how they die – comes straight from Night of the Living Dead. This influence is shown when a little girl’s mother comes back, despite being killed by a trowel and not bitten. The series even makes a reference to the movie when revealing the origin of the zombie apocalypse.

It’s amazing to see how the original plan for The Walking Dead continued to live on through the story, even after the major changes made in the development process. It shows just how influential Romero’s work has been over the years, especially given its status in the public domain that allows fans to create their own zombie stories. Despite The Walking Dead growing to be its own take on the genre, its original plan to be a tie-in to George A. Romero‘s Night of the Living Dead helped the comic get on the right track and tell one of the greatest modern zombie tales of all time.

The Walking Dead is available now from Skybound.

Sources: Comic Book Resources, Royal LaKill Inc. (YouTube)