Fear the Walking Dead Season 7 in Development at AMC

The Walking Dead chief content officer Scott Gimple confirms a season 7 of spinoff Fear the Walking Dead is in the scripting stages at AMC. The network officially renewed Fear for a fifth and sixth season during its annual Walking Dead takeover at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2018 and 2019, respectively — but no such announcement came during this year’s online-only Comic-Con@Home, a virtual version of the convention in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic in March also forced AMC to pause production on Fear‘s episode 608 and the remainder of season 6, which returns with its nine-episode second half in 2021.

“It was heartbreaking not to be able to carry it through to 608, just because that is an astounding episode. It’s such a big episode in the history of the series. It’ll make an amazing start,” the Fear executive producer told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’ve been working for many weeks now, if not months. We’re cranking away on Fear the Walking Dead. We have the rest of season six to finish up while we are working on season seven.”

Asked if Fear is writing a season 7 even as season 6 continues production, Gimple answered, “We are indeed. It’s weird. The timings of the different episodes as it relates to the pandemic were interesting.”

“With The Walking Dead, it was at a point where we could really adjust what it was imminently about to do. Fear was in the middle of its season, and World Beyond was just starting its writing [for the second and final season],” he explained. “It’s been interesting to see the different productions at such different places during this time, and everybody’s been working with each other and learning from each other as far as techniques are concerned as we’re shooting right now. Through this whole pandemic, the Walking Dead universe has never been more connected as we’re figuring out just how the heck to make TV.”

Gimple took a creative role on Fear starting with season 4 in 2018, which launched the first-ever crossover between the two Walking Dead shows when Morgan Jones (Lennie James) jumped from the mothership to the spinoff. The Walking Dead veteran now leads a cast that includes Fear originals Alycia Debnam-Carey, Colman Domingo, Ruben Blades, and Danay Garcia, as well as recent season newcomers Maggie Grace, Garret Dillahunt, Jenna Elfman, Alexa Nisenson, and The Walking Dead‘s Austin Amelio and Christine Evangelista.

Earlier this month, Fear showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg told ComicBook.com that the spinoff — which is midway through its best-received season yet with season 6 — has no end in sight.

“We have not had any specific conversations about when the show would end,” Chambliss said. “We have our own ideas about how we think the show should conclude, but for right now, we’re just going to keep telling the stories and do it for as long as AMC says to keep doing it.”

Fear the Walking Dead returns with new episodes in 2021 on AMC. Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for all things TWD.