The Walking Dead would not exist without the groundwork laid down by George A. Romero and his legendary Dead Trilogy.  Known as the Godfather of the zombie genre, his Night Of The Living Dead still remains one of the greatest horror films of all time, although I personally prefer his follow-up to it, Dawn of the Dead.  He recently sat down with Big Issue to comment on the hit AMC series, as well as diss the Brad Pitt-starring World War Z, revealing that he was offered the chance to direct some episodes of the popular zombie show The Walking Dead.

Romero revealed that, “They asked me to do a couple of episodes of ‘The Walking Dead’ but I didn’t want to be a part of it. Basically it’s just a soap opera with a zombie occasionally. I always used the zombie as a character for satire or a political criticism and I find that missing in what’s happening now.”  He followed that up with his opinion on whether zombies should be able to run: “I guess Zack Snyder started that with the remake of Dawn of the Dead – fast-moving zombies, but the zombies in World War Z, my God, they’re like army ants! But in all the adverts here they never called it a zombie film.”

Romero also pointed out that he never referred to the risen dead in his NOTLD by the word Zombie, “No, never did. I never thought they were zombies. To me back then, zombies were those voodoo guys who were given some sort of blowfish cocktail and became slaves.  And they weren’t dead so I thought I was doing a brand new thing by raising the dead. Not that the dead haven’t been risen before… It goes back to Jesus, doesn’t it?”

I personally resent his opinion on The Walking Dead being just a soap opera with just an occasionally zombie. Has he ever even watched an episode?  As for World War Z, I completely agree.  What do you guys think about Romero’s opinion on modern zombies and his decision to turn down directing The Walking Dead?  Discuss below.

Courtesy of Big Issue