The two shows take place on opposite coasts with different characters at separate points in time, but that will not stop The Walking Dead and companion show Fear the Walking Dead from a future crossover. In a bombshell tease dropped at New York Comic Con on Saturday, comic book creator (and EP for both shows) Robert Kirkman said during The Walking Dead panel that the two programs will finally link up. “I’ll say this: There are two Walking Dead shows. One character is going to go from one show that I will not name and appear on another show that I will not name.”

Kirkman was scarce in terms of details, saying, “We’ve finally gotten to a place [with Fear the Walking Dead] where we can play with some things,” but a source confirms to EW that the shows will converge at some point next year. The prospect of a crossover is tantalizing, especially considering Kirkman’s comments at San Diego Comic Con in July when he pointed out that “Fear the Walking Dead takes place roughly around the time of season 1 and beginning of season 2 in The Walking Dead. Walking Dead season 8 is taking place with the theoretical Fear the Walking Dead season 7.… Right now the timelines are so different that it’s impossible.”

Does that mean there is a time jump in store for the spin-off, or a flashback coming for the original series? The Walking Dead showrunner Scott M. Gimple was recently appointed oversight duties for Fear (with new showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss taking over for Dave Erickson in season 4) and EW asked him recently whether that meant a crossover could be in the works. Gimple replied “No,” but that appears to have changed.

When discussing his input on Fear — which was co-created by Kirkman — Gimple talked to EW about his working relationship with Goldberg and Chambliss. “I’m sort of their Obi-Wan Kenobi, you know? We work out the narrative together. They’re taking the ball and running with it, and then I jump in to help them with all things Walking Dead, from production stuff to the narrative stuff. I’m pretty deeply involved, but they’re absolutely the showrunners. They’re the Luke Skywalkers. I’m just the old broken down Jedi in the cloak.”

So while Goldberg and Chambliss will be handling the day-to-day, Gimple will definitely be helping to formulate the big picture, which now will include some sort of crossover. “The No. 1 thing that I’m doing is helping those guys move the story in new directions and take all the great stuff from Fear and play it out in directions that link up with how the comic tells stories,” says Gimple. “You know, these bigger than life iconic characters, and these real-life grounded human emotions. That’s been my job for the past seven years, and it’s not like there hasn’t been that, but I think there’s been some more opportunities to do that.”

Kim Dickens’ Madison Clark does have a southern accent on Fear the Walking Dead, leading some in the past to speculate that she could be related to someone from the first show, which was originally set in Georgia (and now Virginia.) Fear showrunner Dave Erickson, who is leaving the show after the Oct. 15 season 3 finale, shot down such theories in the past, but Dickens herself said at San Diego Comic Con in July that “I think Madison is, probably, might be related to Daryl Dixon.”