Fear The Walking Dead: Everything We Know So Far

Time & Place

Fear The Walking Dead may be based in the same universe as The Walking Dead, but it is quite different from its popular older brother.

Fear takes place on the Left Coast, specifically Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles location brings up a few notable differences. First of all, there's way more people. California is a much more densely populated place than the southeast and namely, Georgia. And there are very different people comprising said population. Southern hospitality will be exchanged for the southern Cal lifestyle.

The L.A. setting also means less (or no) hiding in the woods. Have you ever flown into LAX? The only things you can see are houses, roads, and a beach. No forests. Maybe some mountains, but how much good would it do you to be trapped on top of a hot mountain?

As for the timing, Fear The Walking Dead will begin while Rick Grimes is in a coma. The first season will span over the course of a few weeks, beginning right before the first zombie infection, and ending almost at when Rick would be waking up in his Georgia hospital bed.

Patient Zero

Fear The Walking Dead is truly the beginning of the end. In episode one, we get to meet Patient Zero - the very first zombie.

Is Lexi Johnson, who plays Gloria, truly responsible for the apocalypse? Will she finally tell us where the virus came from No. But it is still exciting to meet zombie numero uno.

Characters

Fear The Walking Dead is a very character-driven tale, despite the zombie and apocalyptic action being promoted to draw viewers in.

So, let's meet those characters.

• Travis Manawa (Cliff Curtis) - a divorced schoolteacher, living with Madison and her kids, optimistically trying to blend the two families.
• Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) - a widowed high school guidance counselor, raising her two kids with the help of Travis.
• Alicia Clark (Alycia Debnam-Carey) - Madison's daughter, an overachieving high school standout. She's confident, stubborn, ready for college.
• Nick Clark (Frank Dillane) - Madison's son, drug addict, and dropout.
• Chris Manawa (Lorenzo James Henrie) - Travis' son, bitter towards new family, lives with his mother
• Liza Ortiz (Elizabeth Rodriguez) - Travis' ex-wife, Chris' mother. She and Travis are mostly on good terms following their divorce.
• Ofelia Salazar (Mercedes Mason) - Daniel's daughter. She's protective of her parents, but also very naive
• Daniel Salazar (Ruben Blades) - A barber shop owner in L.A.
• Tobias (Lincoln Castellanos) - A high school student, who's one of the first to realize that the zombie apocalypse has begun.

Relationships

Between each of Fear's characters are very dynamic relationships. Travis and Madison are a happy couple, madly in love, trying their hardest to make a blended family work. Unlike The Walking Dead, which focused on infidelity in it's first few seasons, Fear The Walking Dead will follow a faithful couple that's fully dedicated to one another.

But Travis and Madison aren't the only couple that Fear will hone in on. The parental relationships between Travis and Chris, and Madison, Alicia, and Nick, will also be at the forefront, building drama aside from the need to survive. The brother and sister duo of Nick and Alicia will also be tested.

Then, there is Ofelia and her family. While talking to Mercedes Mason, who plays Ofelia Salazar, we learned that Ofelia will struggle with trust issues and revelation. She will discover that "everything she has known is a lie." It seems to stem from her parents, Daniel and Griselda.

The Walking Dead

Despite the space between, Fear The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead still occupy the same universe.

This means everything The Walking Dead taught us about the zombie outbreak, and the rules on zombies, applies to Fear The Walking Dead. That means if someone dies from anything but a battering of their brain, they will walk again and try to chow down on some human flesh.

It also provides the audience an advantage over the characters. We, the audience, have a lot of knowledge the characters do not...at least not yet. The writers and directors behind Fear will likely use this to their advantage, creating moments and scenes where the audience wants to scream, "No! Look out! Stab them in the head!" while the characters have no idea.

Fear The Walking Dead premieres this Sunday, August 23, at 9 PM EDT on AMC.