The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Is Being Compared to The Last of Us

In AMC’s The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, gruff loner survivor Daryl (Norman Reedus) is tasked with escorting 12-year-old Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) across post-apocalyptic France to deliver humanity’s savior to safety at a freedom fighter base up north. In HBO’s The Last of Us, gruff loner survivor Joel (Pedro Pascal) is tasked with escorting 14-year-old Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across post-apocalyptic America to deliver humanity’s savior to safety at a freedom fighter base out west. The younger companions are deemed special: Laurent is destined to be “the new messiah to lead the revival of humanity” in the zombie apocalypse, while Ellie’s immunity against the Infected could cure the cordyceps plague and end the fungal apocalypse.

Sunday’s “Alouette” episode of Daryl Dixon is drawing comparisons to The Last of Us after a major revelation about Laurent, who was born at the onset of the Walking Dead apocalypse in 2010. [Warning: spoilers for Daryl Dixon and The Last of Us follow.] 

The “Look for the Light” episode of The Last of Us revealed that Ellie’s mother Anna (Ashley Johnson) was bitten and infected while giving birth, explaining Ellie’s unique immunity to cordyceps. The “Alouette” episode of Daryl Dixon showed the similarly unique circumstances around Laurent’s “miracle” birth: his zombie-bitten mother Lily (Faustine Kozie) succumbed to the infection from a walker’s bite and reanimated while giving birth. However, despite being born to a zombified mother, Laurent is not believed to be immune to bites. Instead, the network of believers who belong to the religious Union Del’Espoir (Union of Hope) see Laurent as “an answer to the prophecy” foretold by their leader, the Buddhist monk Lama Rinpoche, who claims the boy is destined to deliver humanity from “the hungry ones.”

“This would be such an amazing ending if they didn’t use this plot in The Last of Us first,” one fan tweeted about “Alouette.” Wrote another, “So this is just The Last of Us, but with Daryl and in France.” Other fans pointed out the similarities between the two shows, which you can see below.

While HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us premiered earlier in 2023 — after the Walking Dead spin-off was deep into production — the original video game released in 2013. Daryl Dixon executive producer Greg Nicotero acknowledges the similar concepts, but says the comparisons are limited to the “Lone Wolf and Cub” trope that inspired Road to Perdition and, in turn, The Last of Us video game and series (and Leon: The Professional, and Logan, and Star Wars: The Mandalorian, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and…)

“I remember watching the first episode of The Last of Us and going, ‘Ummm… guys?’” Nicotero told EW. “We were already deep into production when The Last Of Us came out … I enjoyed The Last of Us tremendously.” Nicotero added that Daryl Dixon is “really a continuation of Daryl’s story” after The Walking Dead, which wrapped up after 11 seasons in 2022.

“He’s willing to deliver this kid, but that’s not his sole purpose. Hispurpose is he has people at home he has to get back to. He needs to getback to Judith, and Carol, and the people at the Commonwealth,” Nicotero said. “He kind of got hoodwinked into this detour to France. Ithink the idea that he connects with this kid feels a little like The Last of Us, but once you get into the journey, it doesn’t feel quite as similar to me. They’re different enough that you can enjoy both.”

New episodes of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon air Sundays on AMC and AMC+.

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