Robert Kirkman on a Potential Fear the Walking Dead Comic Book

Could Fear the Walking Dead live on as a comic book? Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson co-created the first spinoff of AMC's The Walking Dead, the original live-action adaptation of Kirkman's Image Comics saga that ended after a 16-year run of 193 issues in 2019. This month, AMC announced Fear's upcoming eighth season would be its last: a final 12 episodes will air over two parts, each consisting of six episodes, beginning May 14th on cable and AMC+ before concluding later in 2023. While a Fear TWD comic book adaptation is "extremely unlikely," Kirkman reveals the chances are "not zero."

"There is a not zero, but just barely, chance of that ever happening," Kirkman wrote in response to a fan's letter asking about a Fear the Walking Dead comic book in The Walking Dead Deluxe #55, on stands now. "It's extremely, extremely unlikely."

Just as unlikely — but not impossible — is Kirkman returning to write a new Walking Dead comic book. 

"The closest we'll likely come to this is an entirely new series from me that's completely separate from TWD but has subject matter that would appeal to TWD fans," read Kirkman's answer to a fan asking about another ongoing series. "That's the best I could do at this point."

When yet another Deluxe reader asked if Kirkman might revive The Walking Dead after bringing the book to a surprise conclusion in 2019, Kirkman wrote: "I gave 16 years of my life to this world. I may dabble in it at some point in the future, but I doubt I'll ever return to do a full series. But... I'd never say never."

Fear the Walking Dead debuted on AMC in 2015 as a companion series to The Walking Dead, then the #1 show on television among adults 18-49. Set on the west coast — on the other side of the country from Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his group of southern survivors — Fear was initially set earlier in the timeline at the beginning of the outbreak. 

Kirkman, who serves as executive producer of the series he co-created, originally described Fear as taking viewers "back to the earlier, more dangerous, more terrifying days of The Walking Dead. A time when danger was lurking around every corner and the thing mostly likely to get you killed was your own ignorance of the rapidly changing world around you." 

Season 8 of Fear will pick up where Season 7 left off — with Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) and Morgan Jones (Lennie James) en route to PADRE — before jumping seven years into the future. The time jump moves Fear closer to its contemporaries in the present-day Walking Dead Universe.

Fear the Walking Dead: The Final Season – Part 1 premieres Sunday, May 14th, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and AMC+. The six-episode Part 2 premieres later in 2023. Stay tuned to ComicBook/TWD and follow @NewsOfTheDead for more TWD Universe coverage.