Revelations from producers David Alpert and Dave Erickson continue the trend of the spinoff distinguishing itself from the "The Walking Dead." The showrunners revealed that the "Fear the Walking Dead" plot will explore the role of confusion and misinformation in the onset of the zombie outbreak.
Alpert talked about how social media and mass media might handle stories of flesh-eating reanimated corpses running around. The showrunner drew inspiration from disasters in the modern age such as New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina.
"It's a fascinating concept, and one that the main series never really had a chance to explore," Blastr said.
Characters in the spinoff will "get some information that is right" but social media slowly distorts everything leaving people to question the truth in what they know.
"Maybe you'll even ask, 'Are they trying to market something?' So watching the way people absorb information and get wrong information is going to be an essential element of what we explore," Alpert told Collider after their SDCC 2015 panel.
The "Fear the Walking Dead" plot will also address storytelling opportunities the main series missed because of its post-apocalyptic setting, according to co-creator Dave Erickson.
Audiences will be seeing a very different reaction from characters in the show when they see walkers. Instead of the now standard move to kill them, people would "want to help them" since they are familiar to them. Slowly, they'll realize what's really happening around them.
"It becomes a process of discovery and then when these characters actually have to inflict violence on someone, the context will be shattering. They're swimming in a lot of confusion, a lot of anxiety, which for us (as writers) is really fun," Erickson said.
"There won't be decaying walkers, it'll be someone you just recently had coffee with who is now clawing at your face. It's terrifying," actress Mercedes Mason added.
Earlier this month, Franchise Herald reported that Erickson said "Fear the Walking Dead" plot will be a "family drama" set against the zombie outbreak.
"Fear The Walking Dead" premiered on August 23 on AMC.
