Stephen King's Son Claims Walking Dead Ripped Off George A. Romero... But Is That True?

As easily the biggest zombie franchise of all time, The Walking Dead owes thanks to how George A. Romero redefined zombies in Night of the Living Dead - but Stephen King's son Joseph Hillström King (who writes under 'Joe Hill') thinks the relationship goes way further than that. In fact, the writer of The Black Phone and Locke & Key believes Walking Dead's creators should be "forever grateful" that Romero was unable to protect his intellectual property.

In the introduction to 2019's Full Throttle, Joe Hill writes about how he fell in love with horror fiction, relating several experiences alongside his father Stephen King and other horror icons. That includes George A. Romero, who collaborated with King on 1982's Creepshow, in which Hill plays a child who condemns his father to Hell. Discussing his experience on the film, Hill writes:

Romero was the shaggy, rebel auteur who kind of invented the zombie apocalypse with his film Night of the Living Dead, who kind of forgot to copyright it, and who, as a result, kind of didn't get rich off it. The makers of The Walking Dead will be forever grateful to Romero for being so good at directing and so bad at protecting his intellectual property.

Hill's comments read as a sincere critique of The Walking Dead, calling out how creators Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore drew from Romero's work in creating the acclaimed comic series, later adapted into multiple TV series, novels and games. But is that callout actually justified?

Joe Hill Says Walking Dead Is Built on Romero's Lack of Copyright

Are the Two Actually That Similar?

The idea of 'zombies' as the reanimated dead has been around since the 17th century, emerging from Haitian folklore. However, Hill is right to credit Romero with effectively reinventing it for the modern day. Night of the Living Dead established the aesthetic and many of the themes of subsequent zombie fiction, despite never actually referring to its cannibalistic undead with the term (instead labeling them 'ghouls.') Of course, no work is created in a vacuum, and even Romero was inspired by other sources, including Richard Matheson's I Am Legend.

Walking Dead definitely follows Romero's blueprint in its depiction of an apocalyptic outbreak of shambling, flesh-hungry corpses run amok. The creators have admitted time and again to being inspired by Romero and his ideas. But is this a case of normal pop-culture inspiration, or is Walking Dead really taking advantage of Romero's lack of ownership over his intellectual property? As hardcore fans know, it definitely started as the latter.

Yes, Walking Dead Owes Everything to Night of the Living Dead

In Fact, It Was Originally an Official Spin-Off

While The Walking Dead has a lot of unique characters and events to its name, it literally began life as a Night of the Living Dead spin-off. As detailed by Comic Book Resources, The Walking Dead was originally pitched as a comic spin-off to Romero's film, even including the same news broadcast about the dead rising from their graves.

Per CBR, Robert Kirkman was given the green light to use the Night of the Living Dead name, which fell into the public domain due to an error including copyright notices on the film prints. However, publisher Jim Valentino told Kirkman that launching The Walking Dead as an original concept was preferable since it would give him greater ownership over the franchise, leading to a (relatively slight) revamp.

In the original comic pitch, Rick Grimes is sat at home with his family when news of the zombies breaks, meaning that the franchise's iconic opening with Rick in a hospital bed came later. Likewise, The Walking Dead doesn't share any characters with Night of the Living Dead, even as its zombies display similar aesthetic traits. One of the big similarities is that both are in black and white - doubtless something that originated in the Night of the Living Dead pitch, but also a way for Walking Dead to get away with graphic violence and gore.

The question isn't whether Walking Dead is built on Romero's work - it absolutely is, and its creators have made no secret of that. But did Kirkman, Moore and longterm artist Charlie Adlard create their own story, or are they dining out on Romero's work?

Walking Dead's Creators Have Never Made a Secret of Their Debt to Romero

But Would the Franchise Exist If Romero Had Protected His Copyright?

Kirkman has written extensively about his inspirations and decisions with Walking Dead, and the ways in which Romero's work influenced his comic series and the later TV series of the same name. For example, in The Walking Dead Deluxe #55, Kirkman explains that he never wanted his zombies to evolve or learn because it would be too similar to how Romero developed the undead in his subsequent movies, writing:

I've never tried to hide how much inspiration Romero's movies were to me for this series. I will always maintain there would be no Walking Dead without the godfather of the modern zombie. That said, I think this series is at least a slight innovation to the genre. ... I felt evolving or changing our zombies in any way would have veered too close to his hallowed work.

Kirkman has even claimed to have hidden several 'cameo' appearances by Romero in the comic as a zombie, though it's unclear whether this is true or a joke at fans' expense. One of the things that most Walking Dead fans immediately point out about the series is that it was never about the zombies. The undead act as a way to force the comic's characters into close-quarters and impossible situations, and those unique characters are the focus. It's telling that Walking Dead is far, far more famous for its human villains than any moments directly involving zombies.

At the same time, it's hard to argue that Walking Dead doesn't use what's essentially Night of the Living Dead as the backdrop for its story. Whether this infringes on a copyright Romero could have claimed is a matter for a never-to-exist court case, but from first appearances, it seems that Walking Dead is engaging in the usual kind of artistic inspiration that's accepted as reasonable across pop culture - though of course, the 'zombie apocalypse' as a genre might not have grown so popular without so many people being able to utilize Romero's ideas without worry of legal consequences.

But just because it's seemingly not a direct rip-off doesn't mean George A. Romero liked how Walking Dead handled zombies.

Did George A. Romero Have a Grudge Against Walking Dead?

Romero Was Asked to Direct the Show, But Declined

Romero called out The Walking Dead by name multiple times before his 2017 death, though mostly regarding how its success had impacted his own future work. Speaking to IndieWire, Romero lamented that due to Walking Dead's success, "you couldn't [make] a zombie film that had any sort of substance. It had to be a zombie film with just zombies wreaking havoc. That’s not what I’m about." Similarly, Romero states:

Now, because of “World War Z” and “The Walking Dead,” I can’t pitch a modest little zombie film, which is meant to be sociopolitical. I used to be able to pitch them on the basis of the zombie action, and I could hide the message inside that. Now, you can’t. The moment you mention the word “zombie,” it’s got to be, “Hey, Brad Pitt paid $400 million to do that.”

Romero also didn't want anything to do with Walking Dead as a creator - speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Walking Dead's executive product Greg Nicotero revealed that Romero declined the offer to direct an episode. Nicotero says:

You know, we loved the idea of George coming onboard. Frank Darabont and I talked about it after the end of season 1. And I had a conversation with George and I said, 'Hey, man, would you ever want to come and direct?' This was after we’d only aired six episodes. So, the show hadn’t really even caught on. And George said, 'No, listen, you guys have your world, and I have my world' and it’s cool. I think he really was still intending on developing some other zombie stuff.

So while Walking Dead's creators may be huge fans of George A. Romero's work, it seems fair to say the reverse wasn't true. Ultimately, Joe Hill and Robert Kirkman are essentially in agreement - The Walking Dead was knowingly and explicitly built on the shoulders of Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and wouldn't exist without it. However, while Stephen King's son seemingly has a more negative take on what Walking Dead owes to Romero, Robert Kirkman remains steadfast that wherever the franchise started, it also exemplified enough innovation to be far more than a rip-off of George A. Romero's work.