We’re still waiting for an episode set inside a shopping mall.
In many ways, “The Walking Dead” is a continuation of what George Romero started way back in 1968. The show, as many of its key creative forces admitted in the wake of Romero’s passing, simply would not exist without Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead paving the way – after all, it was Romero who created the modern day zombie.
But it isn’t just because “The Walking Dead” is a zombie show that it owes a debt to George Romero. Much like Romero’s films, the zombies in “The Walking Dead” are often presented as something more than mindless monsters, and so too does the show focus much of its time on the human characters and their struggles in a post-apocalyptic world.
Simply put, “The Walking Dead” is the closest anyone who’s not George Romero has ever come to recapturing what Romero did with his seminal zombie masterpieces.
And I assure you, that’s very much by intention. Not only was “The Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman directly inspired by Romero, but one of the key creative forces on the show is also a student of Romero’s. Makeup effects master Greg Nicotero, executive producer and frequent episode director on “The Walking Dead,” got his start working under Tom Savini on Romero’s Day of the Dead, and it’s Nicotero who often directly pays tribute to his friend and mentor in the episodes he directs.
Nicotero’s “zombie tributes” on “The Walking Dead” have become little fun Easter eggs for fans, paying tribute to zombie films that Nicotero is a personal fan of. Of course, many of those homages are direct tributes to George Romero’s enduring creations, and we wanted to highlight all of those tributes for you here today.
Here’s what they are and where to find them!
1) Flyboy (Dawn of the Dead) – Season 3, Episode 5
2) Plaid Shirt Zombie (Dawn of the Dead) – Season 3, Episode 15
3) Bub (Day of the Dead) – Season 4, Episode 15
4) The Crate (Creepshow) – Season 5, Episode 1
5) Machete Zombie (Dawn of the Dead) – Season 5, Episode 16
6) Creepshow Poster Art – Season 7, Episode 12
7) Johnny (Night of the Living Dead) – Season 6, Episode 6 (*Deleted Scene*)
