Fear the Walking Dead: Questions for the series

When we first heard of the possibility of a spinoff series for The Walking Dead we had tons of questions. Where will it take place? What will it be called? When will it take place? Will it connect with the original show? Will it have the same producers and writers? Who will the characters be? Who will be in the cast? Will it be as popular? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Now that the show has premiered,  we have the answers to some of those questions. We know that the name has been changed from the code name of Cobalt (ew) to Fear the Walking Dead. That name received lukewarm to cold reviews from fans, but I’ve grown to love it! I wrote about that here.

We know the producers, cast and many of the characters. We know it’s set in Los Angeles and will have a 6 episode first season and has been picked up for a 15 episode second season already!  We know the premiere broke cable television records for premieres.

A question that people still have even though Robert Kirkman has made it clear it won’t be answered, is ‘how did the apocalypse start?’ It’s very cool how even though we know it’s going to remain a mystery, the way the show is structured, we can’t help ourselves from wondering and speculating. 

Some questions I had were about what the first words of the show might be. Now we know what the first words are. I wondered what the walkers would be called. We found out that they are “infected” and will have cool “West Coast ” names!

But as with all things Walking Dead, the more questions that are answered, the more questions that appear. I still want to know what kinds of catchphrases are going to come out of Fear. I guessed we’d have something related to flu shots, but our “stuff and thangs” for Fear is surely yet to come!

We’ve seen a nice variety of memes after just one episode. The surprises in the memes came with the combining of characters from The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, such as having Nick run over by a car driven by Lori or Nick and Rick chatting from their hospital beds, and the addition of Johnny Depp to the scene since Nick favors him.

So, more questions that I can’t answer that have naturally evolved include: Who will die first? Where is Matt? Where is Gloria? Will the families stay together or get separated? Will they stay in the city or go out away from it? What new characters will enter the scene? How will they grow and change or crumble and fall? Will they encounter villain-type characters?

How is Fear going to make its own way so it stays true to the walker world we know and love and yet not just replay the same show in a different location with different characters? This the big question we all have. Fear faces unique challenges that are different from other spinoffs. It needs to be different and the same.

The even bigger question is can we love two different shows? Can we love the “same” and “different”?

I like the school setting and I like the idea of families and people who know each other. Perhaps in season 13, they will have lost them, and deal with completely random people, but I think this show is going to stay in the beginning for quite some time. Perhaps even the new characters they introduce will be groups who know each other-teachers, students, fire fighters, other families.

In the Walking Dead, we explore so many characters who are family after the apocalypse, not before. Who grew together. The people in Fear are who most of us would be before losing everyone. Before the need to create a new family.

It’s the same apocalypse. But the beginning. Once we grasp the “different” but the “same”, I think we will fall in love with Fear the “same” but “different” the way we love people the “same” but “different”.

Next: Walking Dead 50 most shocking moments and deaths

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