In the new 30-second clip from the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince actor Frank Dillane is shown fleeing an unknown enemy — almost certainly a zombie — while he struggles to get his clothes on and get as far away as possible from whatever has him spooked. Dillane’s character is credited as “Nick,” and the video is titled “Nick’s Escape,” but that’s just about all we’ve been told regarding his role in the series.
Expected to premiere this summer, Fear the Walking Dead is set in Los Angeles and stars Cliff Curtis (Missing) and Kim Dickens (Sons of Anarchy) as a divorced teacher and a guidance counselor, respectively, who find themselves fighting for survival in amid the deadly outbreak of the disease that turns humans into flesh-hungry zombies. Alycia Debnam Carey (Into the Storm), Elizabeth Rodriguez (Orange is the New Black), and Mercedes Mason (Quarantine 2: Terminal) also play featured roles in the series.
The Walking Dead co-creator Robert Kirkman co-wrote the pilot episode of the series with Dave Erickson (Sons of Anarchy), who also serves as showrunner on the series. Hell on Wheels and Community director Adam Davidson directed the pilot episode.
According to Kirkman, Fear the Walking Dead is a “companion series” to The Walking Dead and will begin as a prequel of sorts to the original series. The new series will unfold during the early days of the outbreak, thousands of miles away from the events unfolding in The Walking Dead, until it eventually meets the timeline of the original series and begins unfolding in parallel with the adventures of Rick Grimes and company. There’s been no official confirmation that the two series will ever “meet” in a crossover episode, though.
We’re still waiting on a specific premiere date for the series at this point, but AMC has already ordered a second season of Fear the Walking Dead that will air in 2016.
