Before The Last of Us became a TV show starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, or even a videogame starring Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, it was a school assignment. The game’s writer Neil Druckmann was in a Cambridge computer class when he had to pitch a zombie story in 2004, with the judge being none other than George A. Romero.

Alongside John Russo, Romero invented the modern zombie movie with Night of the Living Dead. Though it was influenced by I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, which contains many things that have become hallmarks of the genre, only with vampires instead of zombies. Romero would go on to make two sequels that formed a loose trilogy, Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985).

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Romero made another loose trilogy of zombie films nearly two decades later with Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007), and Survival of the Dead (2009). Besides that, Romero was also working on a zombie novel when he died. The book, The Living Dead, was later completed by Daniel Kraus, who also collaborated with Guillermo del Toro on a novelization of The Shape of Water.

So, as a man who knew himself some zombies, did Romero give his thumbs up to what would later become The Last of Us? When Druckmann’s professor pitched the game to Romero, the Godfather of the Dead didn’t like it. “He picked something else,” Druckmann recalled to The Hollywood Reporter, seeming amused and mildly surprised, even years later.

So Druckmann’s idea went on the back burner as he moved on with his career. Eventually, he was hired by Naughty Dog to be the co-lead designer and co-writer on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, the sequel to the company’s earlier game, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Among Thieves ended up being a rip-roaring success, allowing Druckmann to pick his next project. As you might guess, he chose his zombie idea, which he had since fleshed out as a graphic novel.

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Not Resident Evil

     Sony

Despite some similarities, Resident Evil never inspired The Last of Us. Druckmann’s college idea drew inspiration from the PlayStation 2 game Ico and John Hartigan from Sin City, played in the movie by Bruce Willis. It would be about the “story of a man who lost his daughter and a girl who lost her father, who team up.” Druckmann also drew influence from character-driven stories like the film version of Children of Men and the novel City of Thieves by David Benioff.

When a professional reviewer was brought in to play the game’s beta version, their opinion was not flattering. They found the game to be underwhelming. Where were the boss fights and exotic weapons? The closest thing to a boss fight is two Bloaters, the endpoint of an infected’s “evolution,” and David (played in the game by Uncharted star Nolan North). Druckmann, however, was not discouraged.

“We wanted to do the opposite of Resident Evil — which I love, but it’s so over-the-top and you’re fighting giant spiders and it’s all about enemy variety. What if it’s about intimate relationships — an exploration of the unconditional love a parent feels for their child and the beautiful things that could come out of that and the really horrible things that could come out of that?”

The joke ended up being on Romero and that reviewer because The Last of Us became a massive success when it was released in 2013. Heralded as one of the greatest games ever made, it and its sequel sold more than 37 million copies. Now, the eagerly awaited television adaptation is set to premiere on Jan. 15 this year.

“I was working on my dream game. I was like, ‘They’re never going to let me do this again.’ I wanted to fail on my own terms. So there was no compromise.”