The creator of The Walking Dead has confirmed the franchise's world has a predator deadlier than zombies - one he wishes Rick and Carl had faced in their travels. The Walking Dead became so popular partly because it took the zombie apocalypse seriously, examining how infrastructure would fail and society rebuild in the weeks, months, years, and eventually decades following the outbreak of a mysterious condition that forces the dead to rise again.
The series also took a relatively realistic view of zombies, showing that up against small numbers of the shambling undead, humans were fast, strong, and smart enough to triumph. There are many scenes where humans are able to survive encounters with groups of zombies by being able to see the openings to escape and prioritize their targets to stay alive. Where the franchise's zombies become truly deadly is in large numbers, or when a zombie is hidden from view, allowing it to appear and attack as a surprise - though even this usually only nets them a lone victim before other humans react to end the threat. A herd of zombies is akin to a natural disaster in the series' story, but its creator acknowledges that the world contains more significant one-on-one threats.
In The Walking Dead Deluxe #49 - from Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, and Dave McCaig - Rick and Carl are on their own following the prison massacre that left their group separated and many key characters dead. In the author's notes to the issue, Kirkman notes that he originally planned to have the two encounter a feral dog. This would have posed a new threat in the series, especially since Rick had recently lost his hand to the Governor. Indeed, Kirkman observes, "I wonder why I never did that. That would have been pretty cool. A stray dog can be even more dangerous than a zombie. Missed opportunity there."
Dogs Are Deadlier Than Zombies?
While it's initially surprising to hear The Walking Dead's creator rank a stray animal above a zombie, the series bears this out. A feral dog would be faster, smarter, and more vicious than a shambling zombie, which tend to be far more predictable. Likewise, following the fall of humanity, feral pets would become a major concern, as food became scarce and competition weeded out the more benign. Additionally, without access to modern medicine, scratches and bites would increase hugely in their potential to become infected, and dogs would be capable of pursuing humans across significant distances.
Ezekiel's Tiger Took Deadly Animals to the Extreme
The series did ultimately revisit this idea in a far grander way with the introduction of Ezekiel. A former zoo keeper, Ezekiel cared for a tiger named Shiva, which killed far more than its share of zombies and human enemies. Still, Shiva was nominally under Ezekiel's control, and Kirkman is right to state that it would have been fascinating to see the survivors deal with feral animals, especially those able to work in packs, demonstrating judgment its zombies don't have.
Walking Dead's Animals Get a Happy Ending
The comics offer no evidence that animals are susceptible to the zombie 'virus,' and the final issue of the series suggests that with humanity and industry severely reduced, nature has actually hugely benefited from the zombie plague. With Kirkman remaining open to the possibility of future The Walking Dead spin-offs, the idea of the worlds' feral pets could be one that eventually gets its due, though fans who like the idea can actually check out Rover Red Charlie from The Boys creator Garth Ennis, which depicts a zombie apocalypse from the perspective of a trio of dogs.