AMC has already nailed its first spinoff in Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul, but it may have a tougher challenge in upcoming Walking Dead franchise expander Fear the Walking Dead. Lacking any familiar faces, it will have to really kill during its marketing campaign in order to entice viewers. Production is currently underway on the spinoff’s six-episode first season in Vancouver, and Entertainment Weekly has unveiled some shots from filming – you can check them out above along with an official shot of Alycia Debnam-Carey’s character (via Variety).
Fear the Walking Dead, which has already been renewed for a second season, will follow a group of people in Los Angeles struggling to survive during a dangerous zombie apocalypse. Unlike The Walking Dead, which plunged viewers pretty directly into the post-apocalyptic landscape, this spinoff will open during the early days of the undead plague and chart the country’s descent into anarchy.
[zerg]That means more of the unsettling, end-days vibes that the main series delivers so amply, as well as a cast that’s likely to start off pretty large then get thinned out as characters succeed or fail to adjust to the presence of flesh-munching walkers.
Kim Dickens (Gone Girl) stars in the show as Madison, a guidance counselor who, along with her romantic companion Travis (Cliff Curtis), a teacher, is forced to grapple with the beginning of the apocalypse. Attempting to keep her troubled children (Frank Dillane and Debnam-Carey) safe, Madison must transform from an everyday mother into a hardened survivor if she’s to have any hope of leading a group of disparate individuals out of danger. Elizabeth Rodriguez and Mercedes Mason are also in the cast.
Fear the Walking Dead premieres on AMC sometime late this summer, ahead of The Walking Dead‘s return later this fall.