8 Zombie TV Shows That Outshine The Last Of Us

by

While The Last of Us is currently the most popular zombie show, several others, including Dead Set and All of Us Are Dead, are arguably even stronger. HBO’s adaptation of the popular video game delivered an almost perfect first season, successfully capturing the heart of Joel and Ellie’s journey while also making some smart updates.

The show’s second season wasn’t as strong as the first. While The Last of Us is still a very good zombie series, it made several missteps that prevent it from being the best in the genre. Other shows have successfully adapted the zombie genre to television even more effectively.

Santa Clarita Diet

Netflix gained a reputation for canceling shows with potential right when they were getting good, and Santa Clarita Diet was one of the first examples. The show stars Timothy Olyphant and Drew Barrymore as a married couple, Joel and Sheila, who are real estate agents living a typical suburban life in California. Everything changes when Sheila contracts a zombie virus, throwing their peaceful existence into chaos.

Santa Clarita Diet was a funny and scary show that was gaining popularity when Netflix unexpectedly cancelled it after three seasons. The leads, played by Olyphant and Barrymore, had great chemistry, and the show cleverly poked fun at California culture by introducing a dark, bizarre world of flesh-eating creatures and supernatural horror.

iZombie

The CW network created a zombie series based on the comic book iZombie. The show features Rose McIver as a medical resident in Seattle who becomes a zombie. To avoid becoming a typical, dangerous zombie, she has to regularly eat human brains.

She begins eating the brains of the bodies she examines during autopsies, and to her surprise, she gains the memories and personality quirks of the deceased. Unlike The Last of Us, which follows a fairly standard zombie narrative focused on surviving communities, iZombie takes the genre in a completely new direction.

The Walking Dead

When people think of zombies on TV, The Walking Dead usually comes to mind. While not the very first show to feature the undead, it’s definitely the most well-known. For a few fantastic seasons, it was a huge ratings success, offering both intense gore and captivating storytelling.

While The Walking Dead features a lot of zombie killing, it’s fundamentally a story about the people trying to rebuild their lives after the world has fallen apart. In many ways, it’s like a dramatic soap opera, but with zombies thrown in. Although the show’s quality dipped over its 11 seasons, it was once considered one of the best on television.

The Returned

Inspired by the film They Came Back, The Returned is set in a quiet French mountain town. The story begins when several people unexpectedly return home, only to discover they’ve been presumed dead for years and their families have continued on with their lives. This eerie premise not only creates a suspenseful supernatural mystery, but also provides a compelling backdrop for exploring emotional and personal conflicts.

As a big fan of thrillers, I have to say The Returned was a really welcome surprise. So many zombie shows these days are just non-stop action and gore, which can be fun, but this one felt different. It reminded me more of the eerie, atmospheric vibe of Twin Peaks than the constant fight for survival you get with something like The Walking Dead. It’s just a much more thoughtful and unsettling take on the ‘people returning from the dead’ concept.

Dead Set

Before creating the popular series Black Mirror, Charlie Brooker first honed his unique style of witty, unsettling storytelling with Dead Set. The show begins by presenting a seemingly normal season of the British reality TV show Big Brother, where a group of people live together in a house and drama quickly unfolds.

The series Dead Set cleverly asks what would happen if a zombie outbreak occurred while Big Brother was being filmed. The Big Brother house transforms into a safe haven from the zombies as the rest of the country falls into chaos. It offers a fresh take on zombie stories and brilliantly heightens the existing drama among the housemates.

Pushing Daisies

Bryan Fuller is known for creating imaginative horror shows that, unfortunately, didn’t last very long on television. Before his critically acclaimed series Hannibal, he created Pushing Daisies. This unique show, described as a “forensic fairy tale,” centers on a pie-maker who can revive the dead, a power that proves to be more complicated than it seems.

Despite only running for two seasons, Pushing Daisies remains a memorable show. It stood out with its distinctive look, talented cast of quirky characters, quick wit, and wonderfully eerie atmosphere.

Ash Vs. Evil Dead

Sam Raimi created a unique style of horror with his Evil Dead movies. He combined over-the-top gore with comedy, and featured demons with a darkly funny side. This created a horror experience that was both silly and frightening, and he brought that same energetic approach to his work on television.

Picking up where the original Evil Dead movies left off, Ash vs. Evil Dead follows Bruce Campbell as he continues to battle demons. He teams up with an unlikely group of allies to fight the evil spirits that have haunted him for years. While shows like The Last of Us and The Walking Dead take a more serious approach, Ash vs. Evil Dead is all about having a bloody good time.

All Of Us Are Dead

Despite lasting only 12 episodes, All of Us Are Dead delivers a more gripping zombie story than any of the numerous seasons of The Walking Dead‘s spin-offs. Based on a popular webtoon, the series centers around a group of South Korean high school students who find themselves trapped in their school as a fast-moving zombie virus spreads.

This show combines the intense competition of Battle Royale with the terrifying survival elements of Dawn of the Dead. It’s well-made, exciting, and surprisingly focuses on the characters’ feelings. It’s a fantastic example of what the zombie genre can be.

Read More

2025-11-11 01:20