Fear the Walking Dead Information

Fear the Walking Dead is an American horror drama television series created by Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson that premiered on AMC on August 23, 2015. It is a companion series and prequel to The Walking Dead, which is based on the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. The first season, consisting of six episodes, aired in 2015. Its second season will comprise 15 episodes and debut on April 10, 2016.

Set in Los Angeles, California, the series follows a dysfunctional family composed of high school guidance counselor Madison Clark, her English teacher boyfriend Travis Manawa, her daughter Alicia, her drug-addicted son Nick, and Travis' son from a previous marriage, Chris, at the onset of the zombie apocalypse. They must either revamp themselves or cling to their deep flaws as they come to terms with the impending collapse of civilization.

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Kim Dickens as Madison Clark, a high school guidance counselor, Travis' girlfriend, and mother of Alicia and Nick.
• Cliff Curtis as Travis Manawa, a high school English teacher, Madison's boyfriend, and a divorc who shares custody of his son, Chris, with his ex-wife, Liza.
• Frank Dillane as Nick Clark, Madison's 19-year-old son, a heroin addict who has flunked out of community college.
• Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia Clark, Madison's overachieving teenage daughter and a model student.
• Elizabeth Rodriguez as Liza Ortiz, a no-nonsense nursing student, Travis' ex-wife, and mother of their son, Chris. (season 1)
• Mercedes Mason as Ofelia Salazar, a hardworking professional with immigrant parents.
• Lorenzo James Henrie as Christopher Manawa, Travis and Liza's rebellious teen son who resents his father for their divorce.
• Rubn Blades as Daniel Salazar, a barber, Griselda's husband, Ofelia's father, a Salvadorian refugee who protects his family at any cost.
• Colman Domingo as Victor Strand, a smart and sophisticated man with a mysterious past. (recurring season 1, starring season 2)

Recurring cast

• Patricia Reyes Spndola as Griselda Salazar, Ofelia's mother who emigrated from El Salvador with husband Daniel to escape political unrest. (season 1)
• Scott Lawrence as Artie Costa, the principal at the high school where Madison and Travis work.
• Lincoln A. Castellanos as Tobias, a wise-beyond-his-years high school senior.
• Maestro Harrell as Matt, Alicia's boyfriend.
• Shawn Hatosy as Cpl. Andrew Adams, a well-intentioned military man with a soulful disposition, who is out of his element.
• Sandrine Holt as Dr. Bethany Exner, a confident and skilled doctor.
• Daniel Zovatto (season 2)
• Arturo Del Puerto as Carlos, a man who is guarded but possesses a spiritual understanding of the world. (season 2)
• Dougray Scott (season 2)

Series overview

Production

Development

In September, 2013, AMC announced they were developing a companion series to The Walking Dead, which follows a different set of characters created by Robert Kirkman. In September, 2014, AMC ordered a pilot, which was written by Kirkman and Dave Erickson, and directed by Adam Davidson. It is executive produced by Kirkman, Erickson, Gale Anne Hurd, and David Alpert, with Erickson serving as showrunner. The project was originally known as Cobalt; Kirkman confirmed in March, 2015, that the series would be titled Fear the Walking Dead. On March 9, 2015, AMC announced it had ordered it to series, with a two-season commitment: the first season, comprising six episodes, premiered on August 23, 2015; the second season comprising 15 episodes, will air in 2016.

Casting

In December, 2014, the first four starring roles were cast: Kim Dickens as Madison, the female lead; Cliff Curtis as Travis Manawa, the male lead; Frank Dillane as Nick; and Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia. In April and May, 2015, Elizabeth Rodriguez and Mercedes Mason were announced as series regulars, both in unknown roles.

Filming

Production of the pilot episode began in early 2015 and ended on February 6, 2015. The pilot episode was filmed in Los Angeles; the remaining first season episodes were filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia. Production on the remaining five first season episodes began on May 11, 2015. Adam Davidson, who directed the pilot, also directed the series' second and third episodes. Filming began for the second season in December 2015, with production moving to Baja California, Mexico.

Broadcast

On August 23, 2015, the series debuted simultaneously worldwide on: AMC in the U.S.; AMC Global in major regional markets in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East; and FX in Australia. Hulu holds the show's video on demand rights in the U.S., while in Germany and Austria, Amazon Instant Video owns the streaming rights, making episodes available online one day after their original airing. Streaming in the United Kingdom was slated to become available to Amazon Prime members in 2016.

Reception

Critical response

Season 1

On Rotten Tomatoes, the season a has a rating of 76%, based on 67 reviews, whose average rating is 6.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Fear the Walking Dead recycles elements of its predecessor, but it's still moody and engrossing enough to compete with the original." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 66 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Elisabeth Vincentelli of the New York Post rated the first two episodes three out of four stars, stating that "[They] are creepily suspenseful-they're great examples of how effective a slow pace and a moody atmosphere can be." Another positive review of the first episode came from Ken Tucker of Yahoo TV, who wrote, "Fear the Walking Dead is a mood piece, more artful than the original series" and that the cast is "terrific". Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter gave an average review, writing, "The 90-minute first episode and the hour-long second episode are, while not actually boring, certainly less magnetic than the original."

One of the harshest negative reviews came from HitFix, on Daniel Fienberg and Alan Sepinwall's podcast, where Fienberg called the premiere episode "awful, just horrible ... as bad as The Walking Dead has ever gotten at its very worst. This is that bad. I've been kind of stunned to see people being generous to it. ... I thought this was almost unwatchably bad." Sepinwall called his B- review "slightly generous".

Ratings

The U.S. series premiere attracted 10.1 million total viewers, with 6.3 million in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic, both cable television records for a series premiere. Numerous international debuts of the pilot also set ratings records. The first season averaged 11.2 million viewers in "live plus-3" ratings (includes VOD and DVR viewing within three days after initial telecast) to become the highest-rated first season of any series in cable history.

Season	Timeslot (ET)	Episodes	Premiered		Ended		Average viewers (in millions)
			Date	Premiere viewers (in millions)	Date	Finale viewers (in millions)
Season 1	Sunday 9:00 pm	6	August 23, 2015	10.13	October 4, 2015	6.86	7.61
Season 2		15	April 10, 2016

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref.
2015	E! Online Best. Ever. TV. Awards	New Show You're Most Excited to See	Fear the Walking Dead
	Writers Guild of America Award	Short Form New Media - Original	L. Signorino and Mike Zunic for "Part 8" (Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462)
2016	42nd Saturn Awards	Best Horror Television Series	Fear the Walking Dead
		Best Actress on Television	Kim Dickens
		Best Performance by a Younger Actor on Television	Frank Dillane

Home media

The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 1, 2015. A special edition version of the first season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 22, 2016, with new bonus features, including deleted scenes, seven featurettes, and audio commentaries on all six episodes by cast and crew.