'The Walking Dead' chief on the possibility that HBO's rival zombie show 'The Last of Us' will air during their final season: 'I think there's room for all of us'

• HBO recently greenlit a TV adaptation of popular video game series "The Last of Us," which follows a zombie apocalypse.
• It will likely air alongside the final season of AMC's hit zombie series "The Walking Dead," which will end its 11-season run in 2022.
• "TWD" universe chief content officer, Scott Gimple, tells Insider he plans to watch both and hopes others do as well.
• "I think there's room for all of us, with zombies and the different ways of telling zombie tales," Gimple said.

HBO is currently working on an adaptation of popular zombie apocalypse video game series "The Last of Us."

When it premieres, there's a very good chance it will run alongside the final 11th season of "The Walking Dead," which will wrap up in 2022. "TWD" chief content officer Scott Gimple told Insider it's something those working on the universe haven't considered.

"We didn't think about potentially splitting the walker vote," Gimple said, referencing the fact that "TWD" doesn't refer to the undead as zombies. "It's an amazing game," Gimple continued. "There are some amazing creators that have gotten involved in it and I think it's incredibly different than 'The Walking Dead.' It's a very, very different take."

"TWD," which has aired on AMC since October 2010, started out following Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) as he woke up from a coma to discover a world overrun by the undead. Over the years, the show has turned into a series focused on community, survival, and hope. Eventually, it should shift towards an ongoing search for Rick, who disappeared from the series in 2018.

"The Last of Us" ("TLOU"), meanwhile, takes place 20 years into a zombie apocalypse after a viral outbreak infected most of the world's population. Joel is tasked with bringing a teenage girl, Ellie, who appears to be immune to the virus, to a facility across the country in hopes of finding a cure.

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In "TLOU," the outbreak is caused by a fungus which infects its hosts and kills them before taking over their bodies. The dead are more or less walking fungi in various mutations.

"TWD" hasn't revealed the source of the walker apocalypse, and Gimple told Insider it's something we shouldn't plan on necessarily learning. "I think we could get hints in different directions, but I don't think we're going to give it to you with certainty anytime soon," Gimple said.

HBO's video game adaptation has been in development since March. Craig Mazin ("Chernobyl") and "TLOU" game writer and creative director, Neil Druckmann, are working on the series.

"I think there's room for all of us, with zombies and the different ways of telling zombie tales," Gimple said of both shows. "I'm going to be watching both. I hope a lot of people will be watching."