The Walking Dead

SDCC 2018: ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Hall H Panel Recap

The Fear the Walking Dead panel begins with a blooper reel from the first half of Season 4. Host […]

The Fear the Walking Dead panel begins with a blooper reel from the first half of Season 4. Host Yvette Nicole Brown then takes the stage and says that the show returns on August 12, along with Talking Dead. She then introduces the first trailer from 4B.

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In the footage: All of the major characters are seen doing their own thing when a massive storm hits, blowing walkers all over the place and dealing damage to the entire area. Everyone has been separated. Two new characters are seen driving a truck and they come face to face with Morgan. The man in the truck is wheelchair bound. Some explosions, car chases, and heavy action scenes follow. The trailer ends with a third new character telling them to “be careful.”

The showrunners take the stage, joined by Scott Gimple, Robert Kirkman, Lennie James, Alycia Debnam Carey, Colman Domingo, Danay Garcia, Jenna Elfman, Garrett Dillahunt, Maggie Grace, and producers Gale Anne Hurd and Greg Nicotero.

Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg talk about the new characters entering this season that will arrive with the storm, though they didn’t offer any specific details about how they will affect the old characters.

Lennie James talks about his time on The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, saying he’s filmed nearly 54 hours of television with only about three weeks break in between the two shows. He goes on to say that the showrunners are adding a scene this scene where Morgan uses the bathroom. Additionally, he teases that Morgan will have plenty of new challenges in the second half.

Kirkman is asked about seeing Morgan on both shows. “I’ve been a fan of Lennie James for many years, long before The Walking Dead. The character has gone so far beyond what I did with him in the comic book…taking him to a place that I never could have….It brings me no end of joy.”

Gimple said his goal this year was to make the second half of the season much different from the first. He wanted it to be “scary and screwed up.”

Producer Dave Alpert talks about the team not having a “home base” going forward this season. He says it takes away the concept of safety and that presents new challenges.

Brown tells the crowd that it’s Debnam-Carey’s birthday and the whole crowd sings to her. She explains that the hurricane scenes were incredibly hard to film. They had to be soaking wet for most of it and there were 100 mph wind fans. One day on set there was a real storm causing them to pause production for a day.

Nicotero talks about the time jump heading into Fear this season, allowing him to really play with new levels of walkers. They got to “step it up a lot” because of the decay and the storm. “We want to make sure you guys are getting a new experience. This season really has been like a new show and we’ve really been able to up our game.” He said that the writers have done an exceptional job throughout this season.

Domingo and Brown joke about a moment in the trailer where Strand is drinking wine in a. mansion. He says that Strand always feels like he should be living in an “elevated state.” He finds a mansion in decay that has a wonderful wine cellar and he decides to hunker down there.

Garcia tells a story about working in Texas and how she had to go to the bank in costume because she didn’t have time to change. The teller didn’t think it was actually her because of the makeup and costume. She told the woman at the bank that they were filming Fear the Walking Dead and the woman responded, “That’s in Georgia,” confusing it with The Walking Dead.

Maggie Grace and Yvette Nicole Brown rib Garrett Dillahunt for his camo t-shirt, before Grace is asked about Al’s role going forward. “We haven’t dug into what Althea’s been through, but it’s a lot. I think she’s doing that calculation of whether or not she can risk love.”

Brown moves on to Elfman and Dillahunt and the latter says that he thinks their characters’ relationship is adorable. Elfman says that their chemistry resonates with people because they work so well together. “I ship us myself. His unconditional love is so healing and so powerful.” She goes on to say that the show is surrounded by so much love and she’s always felt so safe and loved with this cast and these producers.

Dillahunt is asked what he wants to see from John on the series going forward. He jokes about an old comic that he read where a samurai carries a baby on his back and he’d like to see that with John. On a serious note, he mentions that he wants to see more from John’s past.

Domingo talks about directing an episode this season, saying that he has been so embraced by everyone at AMC and it made his transition to director much easier than he expected. He said his episode heavily featured Morgan, Naomi, and Al. James says that Domingo did a phenomenal job as a director. “He will do more. He has to do more.” The producers mention that they were “blown away” by Colman’s initial director’s cut of the episode.

There is an Alicia-centric episode coming in the back half of Season 4. It’s a full episode only about Alicia and it will be about how she finds a way to keep going without her mother and her brother. “We get to really get inside her mind.”

Before opening it up for the Q&A, James is asked about his transition and how strange it is not knowing what’s coming on The Walking Dead in Season 9.

Scott Gimple tells a fan that another crossover character is definitely possible because it’s a shared universe. He won’t say definitively one way or the other, but he “definitely wants to.”