We know how long the wait it seems from when The Walking Dead goes off the air and then returns in October so AMC is smart enough to give us our fix of zombie/human drama excitement. When word first came of this, I was a little nervous, but after seeing what a killer job came from the Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul, I’m onboard and can’t wait to spill some of the latest details and what you can expect from this spin-off!
Fear the Walking Dead‘s show’s show runner Dave Erickson revealed some pretty interesting details about the upcoming summer drama, and it’s making me wish summer would get here so much quicker.
AMC is taking a huge gamble because adding Fear The Walking Dead to their line-up will give them a zombie drama on every quarter of the year. That means huge rating potentials for them. Erickson said that the series is a “parallel story rather than a prequel.” This was a bit of a disappointment to me as it was also revealed that the show will not cover the origin of the outbreak. FTWD will cover the early days of the outbreak; the days where Sheriff Rick was in a coma.
Usually reveals like this don’t bother me. However, I feel like most fans are going to want some look in to what created the zombies. Since we’re already exploring the early days of the outbreak, why not go for the gold? Creator Robert Kirkman said he will never explore the origin of the outbreak in the comic books. Erickson confirmed that even though he tried to pitch the idea, Kirkman shut him down. It may not be the popular choice to explain the origin of a story, but it’s a creatively brilliant one. If something like a zombie outbreak really did happen, it’s totally believable that among all the chaos you would never find out how it all started.
Erickson made very obvious that at the heart of the story is about humanity even in the darkest of times. With the story starting at the very beginning of the outbreak, you get to see one newly blended family as they try to survive and stay connected during the dawn of a new terror. They not only have to survive the virus, they also have to survive each other.
I’ve heard many people complain about The Walking Dead being too much of a soap opera and it makes me cringe every time. The zombie genre always felt like the most boring horror genre there was because it was the same thing over and over again. Kill the zombies, survive the zombies. Zombie movies really don’t have much depth to offer other than blood and guts. They don’t have much time for depth and they’re just giving the audience what they want, blood violence.
Although The Walking Dead is far from perfect, it does give a more realistic look in to what the days after the initial apocalypse would look like. Our human struggles wouldn’t go away. The seven deadly sins would certainly still exist and people wouldn’t be able to hide their true colors for long.
Erickson was asked if there would be any sort of cross over with The Walking Dead where characters from TWD would be seen in the early days. He said he never really thought about that. Really? A crossover character never came up in any creative meetings or script writing? I find that hard to believe. Crossovers are almost always discussed when it comes to spin off shows so why not now?
The series is expected to have a five or six season arc, that is if the audience wants to see anything past 1 season. FTWD will take place in Los Angeles. I’m not sure if that’s to give the show a bigger scope, but hopefully things won’t get too complicated and messy. Erickson said the show is not simply the same story placed in another city. It really will have it’s own theme. Erickson even hinted at the fact that there may be other spin offs to come, each one with their own theme. Hopefully, they won’t drown this series in spin offs like they’ve done so many other great shows. CSI anyone?
Just yesterday, Ruben Blades has joined as cast regular for the show which already has been promised two full seasons. He’ll be playing Daniel, the father of Mercedes Mason’s character.
Set in Los Angeles (and shot in Vancouver and LA), Fear The Walking Dead focuses on new characters and storylines. In addition to Mason, Blades joins previously announced cast Cliff Curtis, Kim Dickens, Frank Dillane and Alycia Debnam Carey. Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero and David Alpert from The Walking Dead are executive producing for AMC Studios. Dave Erickson, who co-created and co-wrote the pilot with Kirkman, is an executive producer and showrunner. Adam Davidson directed the pilot episode.
Strangely, there’s not been a more expansive trailer released even though the debut date is this summer. Thankfully, there’s a great first look video at the start of production on Fear the Walking Dead below. There’s also no debut date even though the summer is right around the corner. Hopefully we’ll see episode 1 soon. Walking Dead fans need their fix!