The dead will rise once more on the small screen when The Walking Dead makes its highly anticipated Season 7 debut this weekend, and it turns out the flagship zombie drama won't be the franchise's only new TV entry this fall. AMC has announced the existence of a brand new weekly miniseries titled Fear the Walking Dead: Passage, and the first part has already made its way online.
Fear the Walking Dead: Passage will, for at least most intents and purposes, work the same way that Flight 462 did last year, in that it will be released every week in the middle of a commercial break during The Walking Dead's Sunday night episodes. As well, you'll be able to find the minute-long episodes on both AMC's website and its mobile app. You can check out the first installment below, which hints at the overall story we'll get to in a bit.
So what will the new outer-perimeter narrative involve? The limited logline tells of an intimidating survivor who keeps an injured female safe so long as she provides a safe haven from the hungry walkers milling about. Not exactly the most complicated concept for a zombie tale, but when you're telling a 15-minute story spread out across 16 installments, nuance and variety probably aren't major driving forces. Flight 462 was basically "zombies on a plane," so Fear the Walking Dead: Passage is likely similar in its pigeonholed frame of reference.
As you might imagine, none of the major Fear the Walking Dead characters have been announced for future appearances on Passage, though that could certainly change between now and the release of the 16th episode. (Nick appeared in one of Flight 462's installments, so there's precedence.) But more important than that is if and how the new project will factor into Season 3 of the location-swapping companion drama. Fear the Walking Dead did a good job in Season 2 of branching out with its narrative and characters, but there was nothing smooth or memorable about Flight 462's Charlie/Alex showing up on Fear the Walking Dead. I have to hope a more concrete connection is being planned for this one.
Of course, I'm not at all against this new miniseries complementing any possible Fear the Walking Dead crossover moments with scenes or characters that can also tie back into the flagship drama. It wouldn't be as satisfactory as a flashback scene of Rick Grimes and Madison Clark having a laugh together at a family reunion or something, but we'll take what we can get. (That crossover magic might also happen with The Whisperers, if you wish to believe such things.)
All that said, I would probably be down with this mysterious masked survivor making it through some insanely awful shit on the way to the Season 3 premiere, only to immediately get beaten to death by a new rage-fueled version of Travis. I know it goes against everything I just said, but it'd be a crazy way to get viewers used to Travis at his most unhinged. Or maybe it'll all tie into Ofelia's new buddy in a great way that totally meshes with my previous desires. Either way.
Fear the Walking Dead Season 3 won't be around for quite a while, but the franchise will live on through Passage over the coming months on AMC. Oh, and then there's that whole Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead that people are probably waiting for. It'll get here on Sunday, October 23, at 9:00 p.m. ET. To see when everything else will arrive on the small screen, check out our fall premiere schedule.
