"Fear the Walking Dead" showrunner Dave Erickson recently sat down with TV Line to discuss the show and what fans should look forward to. One of the first things that he discussed was the basic premise of the new series and that it wouldn't go "full zombie" until later seasons.
Erickson explained that the show would map out the events of the zombie breakout when it first started. This would be a perfect contrast to the flagship series, "The Walking Dead," because right in the first episode, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) woke up and the zombies have already destroyed the world.
Erickson stated that they will never reveal the exact cause of the outbreak but the new series will at least explore the early days of the outbreak and how people reacted when they weren't sure if what they were dealing with were zombies or just sick individuals. The companion series would show how society slowly began to crumble.
He also explained that the companion series should be viewed as a parallel story instead of a prequel. The flagship takes place in Georgia and focuses on a rag-tag group of survivors struggling to live in a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies, but this new series takes place in Los Angeles and is more about the internal struggles of a basic family unit.
When asked about the differences in the zombies, Erickson stated that the zombies in "Fear the Walking Dead" aren't as decayed as they are in the flagship series given that the events occur during the early days of the outbreak. They'll look more like corpses and not as "ruined" as they are in the main series. He also explained that with less decay, they might be a bit stronger.
Erickson also stated that while it might be interesting to see a cross-over with characters from the main series, he confirmed that there are no such plans at the moment.
