The Walking Dead nearly didn't feature zombies – other monster was planned

Daily Mirror

19-05-2025

A different monster had been planned for The Walking Dead during its initial pitch - though did not feature for a crucial reason. When pitching the long-running comic book series, creator Robert Kirkman was told the zombies trope was too "normal" of an idea for the series.
Kirkman revised the pitch so the flesh-eating monsters at the heart of the series were only minor characters, with another monster planned to take over from the popular fictional villains. A post to the r/TodayILearned Reddit page has since shed light on what the monsters would have been for the series, had Kirkman stuck to his promised second pitch.
Despite changing parts of the script to feature the alternate antagonists, Kirkman is believed to have never been keen on the idea, and had no intention of writing such a change.
But the project was pitched with a bluff to the audience on what the villain was, which many believe is the reason the project was green-lit. Kirkman then went back over the pitch to remove any reference to the intended monsters.
A post to the subreddit reads: "After the initial pitch for The Walking Dead was rejected for being too 'normal', Robert Kirkman revised the pitch so that the zombie virus was caused by aliens to weaken humanity before an invasion.
"Kirkman had no intention of ever writing this into the comic, but this pitch was approved." Though The Walking Dead featured no aliens, there was a spin-off comic book series which briefly showcased what the alien-featuring pitch could have turned into.
At just six pages long, fans were given a teaser of what could have occurred, though it was cut short as Kirkman ends the spin-off with the words "not to be continued."
Though The Walking Dead went on to become an acclaimed comic book with a television show series to follow, fans understood why the initial pitch without alien interference was rejected.
One fan took to Reddit and wrote: "The thing is: I get it. Zombies were already overdone. The strength of the Walking Dead is in good character-driven writing, but you can't really pitch 'I'm doing yet another zombie story, but, like, it'll be good!'
"I can see why he needed to dress it up with a high-concept hook to get a publisher interested." Another agreed, adding: "I feel like this makes sense for that decade of media.
"Having those twists was all the rage in the 2000s, and there was tons of movies, and shows about aliens invading."
A third user wrote: "That does sound stupid, but on the other side, the zombie premise had already been kinda boring long before that."
The Walking Dead comic ran from October 2003 to July 2019, with a total of 193 issues. The television show of the same name ran from 2010 to 2022, with several spin-offs still broadcast to this day.