Fear the Walking Dead Teases Future Ties to Rick Grimes

Fear the Walking Dead co-showrunner Ian Goldberg has teased the Walking Dead spinoff will include more ties to Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) beyond the connection to the mysterious helicopter group discovered by Althea (Maggie Grace) in the Season 5 opener.

"I think it'll be very disappointing if we didn't follow up," Goldberg said during the ATX Television Festival Sunday.

Beyond the inclusion of The Walking Dead's Morgan (Lennie James) and soon Dwight (Austin Amelio), the flagship series and the spinoff share a link in the form of the seemingly far-reaching community, whose helicopter, bearing a three-ring logo, surfaced in the Season 5 premiere.

This same group will later abduct Rick in The Walking Dead Season 9, leaving those closest to him — including mother to his children, Michonne (Danai Gurira), and best friend Daryl (Norman Reedus) — struggling to accept his apparent death in a bridge explosion.

Despite this connective tissue, the two shows are "remaining separate entities," chief content officer Scott Gimple told Alternative Mindz.

"Dwight is the thing they have in common, most recently. There's a little thing that turns into kind of a big thing that connects to something outside of both shows which people will be seeing. But, you know, they're two different shows. Two crazy different shows in a lot of ways."

Lincoln's Rick is not expected to show on Fear, but the involvement of the group who ultimately steal him away is a clear setup for the Lincoln-led trilogy of Walking Dead movies now in the works from Gimple and creator Robert Kirkman.

As for the armored soldier-turned-walker discovered by probing journalist Althea, "We will learn a lot more about that symbol and the soldier, and it may have some lasting effects on a character on the show," co-showrunner Andrew Chambliss said on Talking Dead.

Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.