'The Walking Dead' Spinoff Gets Official Title, Preview

As if any fan of The Walking Dead needed to be told not to miss Sunday’s Season 5 finale, here’s another reason to tune in: AMC will air a first look preview at Fear the Walking Dead, the prequel/spinoff series that will debut later this year, during the season ender.

Fear, with a first season that will include six one-hour episodes, stars Gang Related alum Cliff Curtis as Sean Cabrera, a teacher and father who finds himself at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse we’re currently watching unfold on TWD. Dead universe creator Robert Kirkman officially announced the title of the prequel Friday on Twitter:

The prequel/spinoff/companion series — AMC prefers we refer to it as “companion series” — is set in Los Angeles, and will find Cabrera trying to maneuver the walker takeover with his son, his girlfriend and co-worker Nancy (Sons of Anarchy and Deadwood alum Kim Dickens), and Nancy’s kids, Nick (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince star Frank Dillane) and Ashley (Into the Woods’s Alycia Debnam Carey).

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Will there be crossover potential with TWD characters? Will the timeline of the prequel series catch up with the timeline of the original series (i.e., will we ever see a Sean Cabrera/Rick Grimes showdown)? The network is offering few details, though there will be crossover between TWD and FTWD personnel behind-the-scenes. Kirkman co-wrote the FTWD pilot with Sons of Anarchy producer Dave Erickson, and the duo will serve as executive producers, along with TWD EP Gale Anne Hurd. Erickson will also serve as showrunner on FTWD, and TWD director, producer, and visual effects whiz Greg Nicotero will be an executive producer on the spinoff, er, companion, series.

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The pilot episode, which is tentatively scheduled to premiere at the end of the summer, is directed by Oscar winner Adam Davidson, who’s directed episodes of Hell on Wheels, Turn, The Following, Treme, Community, Parenthood, Deadwood, Friday Night Lights, Fringe, Grey’s Anatomy, and Lost.

AMC has already picked up Season 2 of Fear the Walking Dead, which will include 13 episodes and debut in 2016.

The Walking Dead Season 5 finale airs Sunday, March 29 at 9 p.m. on AMC, followed by Talking Dead at 10:30 p.m.