Fear the Walking Dead producers reveal how much time season 1 will cover

Fear the Walking Dead producers hinted how much time The Walking Dead prequel will cover during its first season.

Talking to critics at the Television Critics Association’s press tour in Beverly Hills on Friday, executive producer David Erickson told reporters that the first season is such a slow burn, story wise, that events in the show will not catch up to the moment Rick Grimes wakes up in the first episode of The Walking Dead. In fact, the show will continue to explore pre-coma territory into season 2.

“By the end of season 1, we definitely know the world has changed, but we’re not at the same place where Rick woke up,” Erickson said. “There’s still a window of time, we’ll have some real estate left. Rick’s coma was about 4 to 5 weeks. If you track our story, we probably go three weeks over the course of our first season. There is a time that may come that we catch up, and there may be a season where we do a major time cut. The thinking right now in season 1 and the writers’ room for season 2 isn’t about how do we intersect them how or catch up with the original show?”

Producers also said that the military reaction will be part of the season, though not from the military’s point of view. “When Rick exits the hospital, you see the presence of military and MASH units,” he said. “We’re never going to tell the story from a military perspective, but we will see a military presence and how first responders reacted and what they did to protect their own families.”

He also explained the show’s title, noting they went through about 1,000 titles. “We wanted The Walking Dead in the title. But we didn’t want The Walking Dead: Los Angeles. We’re already using Fear as a shorthand. I think it speaks to what the characters are going through.”

Fear the Walking Dead will debut Sunday, Aug. 23 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.

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