It appears that The Walking Dead: Dead City TV show has drawn inspiration from a certain well-known boss fight from The Last of Us Part 2.
In episode 5 of The Walking Dead: Dead City, titled ‘Stories We Tell Ourselves’, one of the show’s protagonists, Maggie, ends up in the depths of the sewers, as she goes up against a walker that should instantly remind The Last of Us Part 2 fans of a certain boss fight from the game.
The Walking Dead: Dead City’s Walker King vs The Last of Us Part II’s Rat King
The boss fight in question from The Last of Us Part 2 is none other than Abby’s encounter with the Rat King in the basement of the Hospital section. Interestingly, the creature seen in The Walking Dead: Dead City is known as the Walker King, so it’s not just their appearance that’s similar. A screenshot comparison between both undead behemoths can be seen below.
Speaking in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Lauren Cohan, the American-British actress who plays the role of Maggie in The Walking Dead series, stated that the inspiration behind the Walker King is the idea of how rats tangle their tails and become a rat king. She added that there were a total of three people puppeteering the monster.
In The Last of Us Part 2, the Rat King is a super-organism made up of multiple stalkers, clickers, and a bloater that have been tangled together by the Cordyceps fungus. Co-directors Anthony Newman and Kurt Margenau revealed that the design of the Rat King drew inspiration from various sources. Films like Zygote and Annihilation, along with the game Inside, served as significant influences for its appearance. Moreover, the epic encounter with the rat king found inspiration in the challenging boss fights featured in God of War, specifically Magni and Modi, as well as Bloodborne’s intense battle with Eileen the Crow.
