Zombies are coming to AMC. Again.
On Sunday, August 23, the network will premiere Fear the Walking Dead, a spinoff to The Walking Dead that will shift the focus to Los Angeles and introduce viewers to characters dealing with the very start of this dangerous outbreak.
Having chatted up various cast and crew members at The Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills this month, here’s a look at 10 things fans can expect from Fear the Walking Dead…
Slow Your Roll, Zombies
Fans will notice a distinctive slower pace to events in the opening episodes. “We purposely built the show a little bit more slowly than the original,” said showrunner Dave Erickson. “We will get to a place over the course of the season where we will see elements of the original show sort of thread in throughout our story. But it is by design.”
A Fresh Look
Since we’re in the early days, the zombies look a little different than what we’re used to because they haven’t had a lot of time to decay. “Greg Nicotero has done great work trying to sort of find that balance as to what these walkers would look like,” said Erickson. “There is sometimes a little bit more ferocity in their initial attack.”
It’s Just a Virus?
Not at all, but this being the early onset of the apocalypse, star Cliff Curtis said: “We don’t even know it’s an apocalypse. It’s a flu. It’s a virus. It’s something on the internet. I got reports I’ve got to do. And my classes. I got to get to work on time.”
They’ve Got Teen Spirit, Yes They Do!
Erickson explained that the teens on the show will be growing up in a different world: “And what happens to kids of this age in a world where no one’s going to come of age anymore? How does that manifest?”
The Zombies Come Second
Zombies Are The Backdrop: Executive Producer David Alpert said this isn’t about killing zombies: “We conceive of the show as a character drama set against a zombie apocalypse as opposed to a show about the zombie apocalypse. So whether it’s The Walking Dead or Fear the Walking Dead, we always want to preserve the character first and foremost approach to storytelling.”
Cinematic Inspirations Aplenty
Erickson explained the creatives watched films like the 1970s version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers: “I think the goal was to create a different kind of tension and try to extend that and we’ve structured in a way that are characters are somewhat insulated from what’s really going on outside throughout much of the season.”
Race Relations
Producers were asked about the fact that a certain race is notably killed off. “We have an incredibly diverse show and a diverse cast,” said Erickson, promising a balance of victims overall. “I think, by its nature, it’s a zombie apocalypse and people die. So if the majority of our cast is Latino, black, Asian…people are going to get bit. People are going to die.”
Time is on What Side?
“[Rick Grimes] was in a coma per Robert [Kirkman] for four to five weeks and he wakes up and the world is gone,” said Erickson of The Walking Dead. “If you count the days in season one we’re probably around the three-week mark.” Erickson also confirmed we will not find out what exactly caused the apocalypse in the first place.
Crossovers to Come?
No, says Erickson: “The thing with two shows, you have two narratives that are living inside the same mythology and I think the instinct for the audience and as well as someone who’s writing on the show is to try to make those two things collide and inflate them at a certain point. We don’t have any plans to do so.”
Season 2 is a Go
With only six Season 1 episodes, the good thing is we already know we’ll be getting more down the line. “I think by the end of Season 1, we definitely know the world has changed,” explained Erickson. “We definitely know that it is the end of the world as we know it. But we aren’t necessarily at the same place we were when Rick woke up in Georgia [in TWD pilot].”
