Fear The Walking Dead: 10 Things to Know About the Zombie Spinoff
Jim Halterman at . Updated at .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...
1. 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."
2. 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."
3. 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."
4. 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?"
5. 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.”
