We knew this day was coming. It is a day of reckoning. It is the day when I pick my favorite apocalypse lead character, and it’s a tough choice but...
Ok, it’s really not a tough choice, but we’ll get into that in just a bit.
If you know me, you know I love zombies. I am the epitome of a zombie girl. I love the best apocalypse movies and TV shows, and of course, two of them happen to be The Walking Dead and The Last of Us.
But both of those happen to have lead men who have also survived for quite a long time in two very different zombie worlds. As a girl who literally trips on her own two feet to go to the fridge to grab water, I would certainly need one of them to have a single chance of survival. There’s a clear pick, so let’s get into it.
I Love Both Shows So Much, And Both Mean So Much To Me
My credentials for making this pick are solely based on the fact that I devoted a good half of my brain to both The Last of Us and The Walking Dead. At this rate, I’m pretty sure I’m half-zombie.
Jokes aside, I really do love these shows. As much as I harp on it, I enjoy The Walking Dead universe, and, as a die-hard fan, I have watched all of the spinoffs so far and enjoyed every second of them. I can’t wait for the following seasons. Heck, I’m eagerly awaiting The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 – even if they did kill off a main character in a way I find so annoying, but whatever.
The same goes for The Last of Us. I’ve gone on at length in other articles about what those games mean to me and the show, so I won’t do it here. However, just know that I have a calendar that has been actively counting down the days of the 2025 TV schedule until The Last of Us Season 2 comes out.
I love these shows and their main characters, Rick and Joel. Granted, you could say that Ellie is also the main character of The Last of Us, but for the sake of this, we’re focusing on the lead survivors, i.e. the ones who bring in the big guns, the ones who will legit do anything to protect the people they love. Who would I pick?
Yeah, sorry, it’s not even a competition.
Both Rick And Joel Are Great Survivors, But I Have To Give The Lead To Joel
Rick Grimes is a character that has been in zombie pop culture for a long time. Joel was huge in gaming and obviously blew up with the release of the TV show on Max. But to me, the answer is obviously Joel for many reasons.
The biggest is that The Last of Us world has expanded longer than The Walking Dead timeline. While TWD is undoubtedly getting up there in years, we aren’t at the twenty-year mark quite yet within the canon of the shows. The Last of Us is already there, which means that chances of survival with someone at that point who has made it that far are pretty high.
However, the biggest reason that I point out is that Joel’s world is much scarier. His zombies are legitimately terrifying.
While The Walking Dead has certainly made strides over the last few years to create different kinds of zombies, they are all relatively slow. We haven’t seen any (aside from a few experiments in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon) that create walkers that will run at you like the ones in The Last of Us or who are as terrifying as the clickers in the HBO show.
The Last of Us, on the other hand, gives us several different kinds of zombies – runners, stalkers, clickers and (of course) bloaters. All of them are terrifying in their way, and if you can survive those, then you’re golden. Joel has proven time and time again how he survives them and more.
Rick is a good leader and great at keeping people together, but in terms of maintaining someone by my side, Joel is the one I would always pick – and if he happens to look like Pedro Pascal, that’s just extra.
Either Way, They’re Both Great Shows – And Make Me Very Happy I Don’t Live In Either Of Them
Look, both of these shows are great. I love ‘em to death and I’m just happy that I don’t live in either of these worlds. I would die relatively quickly if I didn’t have someone by my side.
But all I’m saying is that Joel could easily survive in TWD, but Rick would probably bite the bullet in The Last of Us unless he somehow found a clan to lead. That’s what he’s good at: getting people together to fight. I still love him – and would love another season of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live – but Joel is top-tier.
The Last of Us Season 2 is literally around the corner, and I’m eager to see more of Joel (for as long as I can, as a game girl who knows his story in Part 2). Until then, I’ll be enjoying my rewatch of the series and recommending The Last of Us to all who need to know about him and my love of the famous survivor.
