The spinoff to AMC’s hugely successful The Walking Dead hopes to make its own mark when it debuts later this month. The hype and fan anticipation surrounding Fear the Walking Dead reached a zenith during last month’s San Diego Comic-Con when a trailer for the upcoming season wowed those in attendance and left audiences wanting more after it was released online.
AMC is so pleased with what they have on their hands that they recently announced that Fear the Walking Dead has already been renewed for a 15 episode second season – expanding on the six episodes that will comprise season one. Fear the Walking Dead further develops the zombie filled universe created by Robert Kirkman and serves as a prequel/companion piece to the original series. The pilot shifts the setting to Los Angeles, takes place before the events The Walking Dead and sheds some light on the first moments of the zombie apocalypse.
For fans of the original series, the pilot written by Kirkman and Dave Erickson, may take some getting used to. While The Walking Dead has had 5 seasons of zombie filled mayhem to keep viewers on the edge of their seats from week to week, Fear is essentially an origin story and is paced a little differently. What both series have in common though is that they both center on family. While Rick Grimes and Co. are a makeshift unit, Fear focuses on a blended family and their ability to cope with their new dynamic in the midst of a burgeoning zombie outbreak.
Kim Dickens (House of Cards, Treme) stars as Madison Clark, a high school guidance counselor, who is engaged to fellow teacher, Travis Manawa played by Cliff Curtis (Missing, Body of Proof). While Madison and Travis are very much in love, the family they are trying to unite is far from harmonious. Madison spends her time counseling kids at school but has trouble reaching her own children, particularly her troubled son, Nick. Travis has his own challenges, as he struggles to connect with his own son, while caring for Madison’s son and daughter.
The family drama happens amidst whispers of something sinister going on in the community. People are falling ill and rumors of the true nature of the sickness spreads through the school and the city until a fateful traffic stop sheds some light on what might be going on. Kirkman and Erickson’s script is like putting your favorite ingredients in a slow cooker and then waiting for everything to come together. The pilot serves as a set up, introducing several characters and their situations before jumping into what fans have come to expect from The Walking Dead franchise. This may disappoint some viewers who prefer their food cooked in the microwave, but the new characters and the differences in pacing, location and tone will set Fear apart from the original and give old and new fans of the franchise their zombie fix until The Walking Dead premieres in the fall.
