It appears that AMC is taking the safe route with the upcoming Walking Dead companion series, especially when it comes to characters. In the following list, we can quite easily match three of the new characters with an existing character from Season 1 of The Walking Dead. The other three characters are all members of what appears to be a pretty dysfunctional family– much like the dysfunctional Grimes family.

Here are the six principal characters, as reported by TVLine.com on Friday:

SEAN CABRERA (matches Rick Grimes)

A Latino male in his early 40s, Sean is a good man trying to do right by everyone in his life.

CODY CABRERA (matches Carl Grimes)

Sean’s whip-smart and rebellious teenage son. Known as the angriest kid in town.

ANDREA CHAPMAN (matches Carol Peletier)

A somewhat wilted flower child, fortysomething Andrea (no, not THAT Andrea) has retreated to the outskirts of the city to recover after a horrible marriage.

TOMPKINS FAMILY

NANCY TOMPKINS

A thirtysomething single mom to two kids, Nancy looks like the girl next door, but there’s an edge to her.

NICK TOMPKINS

Nancy’s screwed up teenage son. He’s too old to stay home, too scared to flee.

ASHLEY TOMPKINS

Nancy’s mostly level-headed teenage daughter. Her ambition is in direct proportion to her older brother’s failures. She loves her mom but it’s time to get out of Dodge.

PLOT

And regarding the direction the show will go, Dave Erickson of Sons of Anarchy and Robert Kirkman have alluded to the fact that the new series will be a prequel of sorts, one that would chronicle the early days of the epidemic and the effort to contain it.