Since it debuted as a video game in 2013, The Last of Us has constantly been compared to The Walking Dead, both zombie apocalypse stories starring the Rick Grimes-esque (Andrew Lincoln) leader. And now that TLoU has finally premiered as a long-awaited series, the comparisons keep on coming.
From the way Rick and Joel (Pedro Pascal) both act as the leader and got impaled, to the way Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Carl (Chandler Riggs) both stole guns and got bit, each character on the new HBO Max series has an eerily similar TWD counterpart.
1 Joel Miller & Rick Grimes
Arguably, the most obvious character counterparts are Joel Miller and Rick Grimes, who both inadvertently become the leaders of the people counting on them. Both quiet until they need to unleash their southern drawls, these two characters have almost identical stories.
From the way they both lost their children to the way they both favor the same type of weapon, the most notable thing these two have in common is the fact they both wind up impaled, Rick falling off a horse and onto a rebar and Joel getting stabbed by an enemy.
2 Ellie Williams & Carl Grimes
While Ellie isn't Joel's biological daughter, she becomes as much of a child to him as Carl is to Rick. Both The Last of Us' Ellie and The Walking Dead's Carl have no choice but to grow up in the apocalypse. These two characters also share similar personalities, from their wise-guy attitudes to their love of comic books.
They also share similar traumas, both losing their mothers young, and both needing to kill someone they love. But something these two have in common that not many other characters on TLoU do is the fact they both got bit, except Carl succumbed to his wound while Ellie survived, proving to be immune.
3 Tommy Miller & Daryl Dixon
Both before and after the infection, Joel's brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) acts like a loner, taking on odd jobs before and going off on his own afterward, but is always there when the people he loves need him, exactly like TWD's Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus).
Like Tommy, Daryl always preferred to go explore on his own, leaving Rick's group several times during TWD's 11 seasons, similar to the way Tommy took off and found a new life in Jackson. But when it mattered most, Daryl always came back and fought for those he loved.
4 Henry and Sam & Morgan and Duane
Morgan (Lennie James) and Duane (Adrian Kali Turner) were first introduced on TWD during the season premiere when they save Rick's life and explain to him what happened to the world. After doing some scavenging and walker slaying with Rick, they all parted ways and Duane's devastating fate left Morgan lost.
Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Woodard), while brothers rather than father and son, have a similar experience during their short-lived time on TLoU. Sam, the younger of the two, winds up dying at the hands of a zombie just like Duane did, which leaves Henry in an incapable state much like Morgan.
5 Marlene & Shane Walsh
The bad guy with good intentions, Shane (Jon Bernthal) spent the majority of his two seasons on TWD as the undercover antagonist. He cares about Carl like his own son, but doesn't care who else he hurts in the process of trying to save lives, even if he ends up hurting Carl in the end.
Marlene (Merle Dandridge) plays a similar part in TLoU, caring for Ellie like a daughter, but not enough not to sacrifice her to try and cure the world of the infection. She's ruthless, and winds up a seemingly good guy-turned-villain just like Shane.
6 Sarah Miller & Sophia Peletier
Sophia Peletier (Madison Lintz) has a small but crucial role in TWD as Carol's (Melissa McBride) only daughter, who survives the initial outbreak, just to lose her life early on. Despite not being given the chance to fight in the new world as her mother did, Sophia proved to be strong and independent until her dying day.
Joel's daughter Sarah (Nico Parker) lives out a similar storyline on TLoU, strong and independent when the infection began, but not given much of a chance to fight in it when she was killed in the beginning, even earlier than Sophia was.
7 Bill and Frank & Aaron and Eric
Unlike The Last of Us, it took The Walking Dead a few seasons to finally introduce some queer characters, and Season 5 brought on Aaron (Ross Marquand) and Eric (Jordan Woods-Robinson), committed boyfriends who met in the midst of the apocalypse. Throughout their two-season-long arc, Aaron remained a loyal fighter while Eric simply wanted a calm and happy life together.
Being a gay couple isn't the only thing Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) from TLoU have in common with Aaron and Eric. This couple, too, experiences the strain on their relationship when Bill wants to stay a fighter and Frank wants a happy life, and Bill and Aaron both wind up losing the loves of their lives in the end.
8 Tess & Carol Peletier
You could argue that TLoU's Tess (Anna Torv) and TWD's Carol differ in a lot of ways, from Carol remaining on her series much longer to Tess dating the show's lead. But personality-wise, these two badass women have plenty in common.
Carol and Tess both lost their husbands and children to the outbreak, and the losses turn them into the fighters they become, both even not caring if they have to kill a child. With similar physiques and hair, while Carol plays a much larger role in TWD than Tess does in TLoU, the two characters mimic each other's vibes.
9 Riley & Enid
Although Ellie is the signature badass teenage girl of TLoU, Riley (Storm Reid) comes as a close second. The best friend and love interest to Ellie, Riley strives to find a community for herself after losing her parents to the infection.
TWD's Enid (Katelyn Nacon) does the same thing, also in a flashback episode like Riley, where viewers see her lose her parents to walkers and eventually find refuge at Alexandria. The two characters also find love with their respective show's main teen protagonists, Carl and Ellie, before eventually losing their lives.
10 Kathleen & Negan
The majority of Season 1 of The Last of Us doesn't have a major villain, unlike The Walking Dead, which seemed to have a new villain every season. But one character TLoU expanded on in the first season was Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey), head of the Militia who would kill anyone to get what she wanted.
Although she didn't carry a barb-wired baseball bat, this character mimicked TWD's Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in several ways, from her seemingly-sweet personality to her lack of a conscience when it came to killing, but the biggest thing they have in common is the way they both turned unto the villain after losing the person they loved the most.