Quote:
Originally Posted by
Shedrock 
The scene where he wakes up as a forgotten hospital patient to a world full of zombies, was disappointing in its unoriginality. The movie "28 Days Later" begins with this exact scene, and the movie "Resident Evil" ends with it.
The source graphic novel was being created around the same time as "28 days later." Hard to know which came first. And its creator, Robert Kirkman, has written many times that he avoids other zombie-themed media in order not to be influenced by it.
I'd imagine there was a lot of discussion amongst the producers of the WD TV show: keep the original opening from the books, or change it to avoid being seen as derivative by the wider TV audience. There are good arguments for both sides, but IMO the source material is so strong in general that changing the opening just because some people might think it was unoriginal is to sell it short.