George A. Romero Explains Why He Won't Do 'The Walking Dead'

George A. Romero gave birth to the modern zombie with 1968's Night of the Living Dead, and at present the most popular example of that horror subgenre is The Walking Dead. A Romero-directed episode of the AMC series, then, seems like a natural fit. But sorry, gore junkies, Romero just isn't interested.

In a recent interview, Romero revealed that he'd actually been approached to work on the horror show, but declined because he didn't think The Walking Dead focused enough on the zombies. Read his comments after the jump.

However, the current craze has Romero reluctant to get too heavily involved.

Once they bleed out of pop culture I'll be able to go back and do them again. I don't want to touch them now. Gosh, they are all over the place. The Walking Dead is the number one television series in the States, World War Z, games, commercials... Ugh! It's too much!

The filmmaker continued:

It feels like I don't have a horse in the race. They asked me to do a couple of episodes of The Walking Dead but I didn't want to be a part of it. Basically it's just a soap opera with a zombie occasionally. I always used the zombie as a character for satire or a political criticism and I find that missing in what's happening now.

Romero hasn't entirely forsaken the monsters he created. His last directorial effort was 2009's Survival of the Dead, and he's currently working on a comic book called Empire of the Dead for Marvel. However, he says, he's sitting out the undead movie game for the time being. "I wouldn't want to do a zombie film now," he said. "I'm taking a step away."

As cool as it would've been to see Romero drop by the prison, if anyone has earned a break from shooting zombies it's Romero. Besides, you can still get your Romero-zombie fix when Empire of the Dead hits shelves in January.