Fear The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead companion series will debut this summer. AMC recently released the first teaser trailer for the highly-anticipated Walking Dead series, referred to by some as a “spin-off” of the hit doomsday drama.

The Fear The Walking Dead trailer begins with a news report for the Los Angeles area. The unseen announcer tells listeners that a “strange virus” has been reported in five states and warns those without a flu shot to “stay home.” The Walking Dead companion series appears to give viewers insight into the zombie virus outbreak and will take place, at least initially, on the West Coast.

The main characters in The Waking Dead companion series set to air this summer will reportedly be played by Cliff Curtis, Kim Dickens, Frank Dillane, and Alycia Debnam Carey. The character Sean is a divorced teacher who is romantically involved with Miranda, who has two teenage children. Sean also has a son named Cody who struggles with anger issues. Miranda’s children are Nick, who is addicted to heroin and Ashley, who is “both ambitious and rebellious but has a strong head on her shoulders.”

Although faithful, The Walking Dead viewers no doubt recall the shock and horror experienced by Rick Grimes when he woke up at a hospital near Atlanta, but little to nothing was revealed about the first days of the zombie virus. Some flashback clips of Shane, Laurie, and Carl stuck on the road to Atlanta as bombs are dropped on the city revealed the panic the virus caused, but only touched upon the nationwide evacuation stage of the zombie doomsday scenario.

Fear The Waking Dead will reportedly “fill in that gaps” and detail, to some degree, to origins of the zombie plague. Rick Grimes and his “family” spent the bulk of their time in small towns or out in the country. Fear The Walking Dead appears to be taking place in a large city, at least at first, so the differences in both the level of panic and preparedness between the new characters and the ones we have already grown to love (and hate) in the original Walking Dead series, could be significant.

An excerpt from AMC Fear The Walking Dead release talks more about the new show.

“What did the world look like as it was transforming into the horrifying apocalypse depicted in The Walking Dead? This summer, AMC will answer that question with Fear The Walking Dead, an all-new original series set in Los Angeles, following new characters as they face the beginning of the end of the world. Fear The Walking Dead premieres this summer, with a second season airing in 2016.”

While The Walking Dead was tied to the original graphic novel series, Fear The Walking Dead will not reportedly have such a basis. Walking Dead comic book author, Robert Kirkman, said that the characters in Fear The Walking Dead “may” pick up on different aspects of the zombies that Rick Grimes and his group have not yet discovered. Although The Walking Dead companion series will begin at the beginning of the zombie outbreak, the show will “eventually form a path running concurrently” with the original AMC The Walking Dead series, Kirkman added.

Are you looking forward to watching Fear The Walking Dead this summer?

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