We’ve got a lot of questions about Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson’s Fear the Walking Dead, not the least of which is “When the hell is this going to start airing?” Ever since it was announced that this spinoff would take place in the early days of the zombie apocalypse, fans have been wondering if and when the new series would match up timeline-wise with its predecessor, and Kirkman has put forth an explanation that clears things up while inspiring even more ponderings.
While talking about how this companion series’ storyline will approach the undead outbreak with EW, Kirkman was asked just how fast the storyline will move forward. And while he balks at first concerning how much he can reveal, he indeed gives a decent hint at how the two shows will link up, at least in spirit.
I will say that it will definitely progress. I will say that I don’t consider this show to be a prequel to The Walking Dead, because there will be a point where a certain episode of this show will line up with Season 2 of The Walking Dead, and a certain episode of this show will line up with Season 3 of The Walking Dead. So we will be progressing through time to the point that we do pass the initial days of the outbreak. But how fast it is that we get there? That’s just going to have to remain a mystery.
Considering the first season of Fear the Walking Dead will only be six episodes, it’s likely that our first chunk of time with these characters will be entirely free from tie-ins to the flagship series. I can’t imagine the show would introduce its central set of characters in a relatively zombie-free world only to steamroll the plot to the point where society is in the same shambles it’s in by the time Rick wakes up in The Walking Dead’s first episode. Kirkman says things “ramp up very quickly” from the point where the population is largely ignoring the growing threat around them, but probably not that quickly.
But then I also don’t understand how Fear the Walking Dead will even make any direct references to where The Walking Dead is, plot-wise, without directly crossing over with it, given it takes place in Los Angeles and not Georgia. Will there be a joke about the California governor needing an eyepatch? With any luck, we’ll get to see someone from the later seasons of The Walking Dead living a worry-free life in L.A. before having to make their way across the country for something. Any way it goes, we can’t wait to see what happens.
So set seven different clocks moving at different speeds for the Season 1 premiere of Fear the Walking Dead, which is set to come at some point in August, at least unless Kirkman was lying to us. He’s done that before.
