AMC’s new spinoff series about The Walking Dead, which is going to be set in Los Angeles, will start filming any day now, so EW sat down with Robert Kirkman to see how the new show is going. Here’s what he had to say!
“I will say that this is going to be a show about family,” Kirkman said. “But it’s going to be a show about a different type of family that we haven’t explored in The Walking Dead thus far. So what we’re trying to do with The Walking Dead spinoff is keep the story as familiar as possible for people that love The Walking Dead, so you’ll get the kind of things that you expect from a Walking Dead story. But, at the same time, we’ll want to tell these stories in a completely different way with completely different people in a completely different setting that’s going to make for a fundamentally different show. I think the look and feel of The Walking Dead spinoff is going to be startlingly different.”
Kirkman also mentioned that, unfortunately for fans of the original material, there is almost no chance of revisiting characters from the comic.
“It’s Los Angeles. It’s a corner of the world that we have never explored in the comic book series. So, theoretically, something like this could be happening in Los Angeles in the comic book series, but we don’t show you this area of the country in the comic book series. So it fits within that world, but it is all new characters, all new events and all kinds of crazy stuff.”
That puts the premiere about July, maybe?
Is it a spinoff now instead of a companion?
Companion series would imply that it provides some information that would enhance the original walking dead show or somehow interconnect at points, which from Roberts words isn’t the case. So I would call it a spinoff show.
I was thinking
Companion: enhance
Spin-off: interconnect
I’ve read both terms used with this show, so I’m just gonna call it a spin-off companion because “Cobalt” just isn’t gonna stick.
Wouldn’t a spinoff show mean that you would be spotlighting a current or past actor/actress and essentially have their own show? A companion series would mean a new cast but along the same lines, right?
Can’t wait to see it.
Woot!
Jeeze i really hope when he says family oriented he means, like a family of cannibals or something, or like what rise of the gov was like, that was waaaay awesome, like right at zday trying to navigate the craziness and what to do next, our group is so established that chaos just isnt really a factor anymore (with the exception of other nuts ass groups) and its always fun to see someone figure out what happens now the wake of a brand new zombieland
I hope they go to Pacific Playland.
If not, Wally World?
I like the idea. When I first started watching TWD, I hadn’t read the comics and I was always on the edge of my seat with what was going to happen. After Season 3, I picked up the comics and was fully caught up by Season 4, so some of the events were no longer so shocking or exciting. I don’t regret reading the comics at all (I f’n love them!!) but some of the suspense was gone. So it’ll be nice to have a show where I get that breathless ‘what’s gonna happen next!’ feel and where there’s no way I can try to predict what will happen.
I know it won’t happen but it’d be awesome if this TWD could air in the summer and the regular could air in the winter… so there’d be TWD all year long…
harpo.AF I get where you’re coming from with the suspense, but you don’t think the show changes it up enough to still be suspenseful? We readers know where the story goes, but there is still quite a bit going on in the show that can keep a person on the edge of their seat & anxious for the next ep/season. I’m like you… I certainly don’t regret picking up the comic, but the show still has a grip on me!
Oh no, I still think the show is quite suspenseful in spots, it’s just that some of it is lost when it comes to the comic storylines (ie: Lizzie/Mika, and Hershel’s death was no surprise at all, etc) But I’m always disappointed when an episode ends and I have to wait a whole week for the next! 😀 And of course I now have the anticipation of ‘how are they going to play out this comic event?’ kind of thing going on. It’s still all good 😉
Agreed, alot of the time i find myself going “ooohhh” right before a big shocking moment then having others react the way i wanted to, the show is still mighty fantastic but im a “caller” when i watch movies and tv and sometimes i can call whats next, though twd has always proven me wrong and thats something i honestly cant say about 99% of the other media im into
i get what you are saying but the show and the comics have a lot of differences in them especially events. like the prison happened completely different in the show than the comics so not even the readers could have seen what was gonna happen and to who. The writers change storylines and the characters for a reason to keep the readers of the comics in suspense. i do have to say i do like the comics slighty more because there is no limit on what Kirkman can do in the comics.
I hope they do air it in the summer! that would be awesome!!!
Oh for sure, the comics are king because of the fact that they dont have to make tv advertisers happy, im sure twd probably doesnt care if they push the envelope but the comic is still alot more raw, and the differences are what makes it so great too, whenever a non reader tells me they cant be that different i blow their mind by saying “sophias STILL alive”
I guess they could use the “Morales” family from the TWD TV series. After they left the quarry and found their family was not in Birmingham, Alabama, they went west and arrived in LA. That’s 2030mi, yes it is a stretch but Abraham & Co. traveled 800 mi…
Or they could use the Atlanta Nursing Home Survivors form the “Vatos” episode.
Walking Dead Deleted Scenes Pt. 1 (Season 2): http://youtu.be/1zXQxy_-6RU
All I request is a character named Shmegan who’s disturbingly nice and has a “unique” relationship with a swiss army knife.
It would be cool to get a secondary comic series based on these characters at some point? Set in the comic universe a bit after the show has been on a while.
I hope to see some celebrity zombies getting some awesome deaths. I trust it will be shown in the UK?? I wish we had Talking Dead over here also. Have seen clips of it on youtube and always wanted to see more 🙁
Might I suggest a battle for survival on a roller-coaster full of zombies with fireworks blasting up from the sides of the tracks, giant axes swinging above the tracks ready to slice whatever comes their way, and leprechauns with bazookas firing at the track to leave our hero with little time and little track space to make a daring escape! I don’t think that’s too much to ask for is it?
ZNation, Season 2
That’s what I would expect of them.
Ahhh haha too funny, i watched a few episodes before i could say with a fair an unbiased opinion that its piss poor
Some people like it & even go so far as to say, “If you like George Romero, you’ll love this!” WTF?!
They must mean his mexican counterpart jeorge romeo
It’s official, The Walking dead has “Jumped the Shark” ..
I am really looking forward to this companion series, setting up something in the same universe as TWD but with a set of characters (maybe not from the comic) that are new to us, is an exciting prospect. while the main show continues to follow the comic (closely and loosely) this new show can be a anything can happen show, and that, is, exciting!