At the San Diego Comic-Con, Walking Dead fans have been eagerly anticipating the Q&A panel with AMC’s companion series, Fear the Walking Dead . Most importantly, they are looking forward to meeting the core family unit that is at the center of the new zombie series.
The full panel for Fear the Walking Dead included Dave Erickson (executive producer and co-creator), Dave Alpert, Gale Anne Hurd, and Greg Nicotero (the three executive producers were all returning from previous The Walking Dead panel). Members of the cast who participated in the panel included Kim Dickens (who plays Madison), Cliff Curtis (Travis), Frank Dillane (Nick), Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia), Elizabeth Rodriguez (Liza), Lorenzo James Henrie (Chris), Ruben Blades (Daniel Salazar), and Mercedes Mason (who plays Ofelia Salazar and enters taking video of the audience with her phone). Chris Hardwick moderated the panel.
At first, the group seemed a little nervous to be on stage, and with good reason. For most of them (excluding the Walking Dead crew), it was their first time at a Comic-Con panel. For Chris Hardwick, he found it hard working with the new cast due to the fact nothing could really be said about the show without revealing direct spoilers. However, it gave him a chance to ask each cast member what their character is like. So here’s what we now know about the family in Fear the Walking Dead .
- Kim Dickens (who plays Madison) had nightmares after they started filming as a way to process everything that was happening on the show. Fear the Walking Dead is a new genre for her and she found it “emotionally” jarring at first.
- Travis is a character who is a Mr. Fix-it and totally in love with Madison. He has a son, Chris, to a previous marriage. His ex-wife, Liza, ends up moving in with them when the zombie apocalypse hits, which should make for some pretty interesting dynamics in the house. Travis is an English teacher and completely unequipped for the apocalypse, as are most of the other characters, with the exception of Liza, who is a nurse in training.
- Not much more was learned about Nick other than what fans already knew from the teaser video of him escaping from seeing the undead other than he is the eldest child of Madison. While his family at first think he was high when he saw people eating people, they soon come to realize he was telling the truth.
- Alicia is Nick’s brother, and where he is the troubled teen, Alicia is the perfect child in Fear the Walking Dead . However, this could cause a great deal of trouble. For Nick, who is already in a dark place, the transition to post-apocalypse could be less jarring. But, as Alycia pointed out, her character Alicia, being 17 and fairly naive, is “going to go somewhere… it might be very dark.”
- Liza, as stated before, is the ex-wife of Travis. She was married to Travis for 13 years and they have been divorced for three. Her role may be pivotal in Fear the Walking Dead as she is a student nurse and may come in contact with the outbreak or witness the medical side of the outbreak. This, potentially, could lead to the rest of the family finding out more about the outbreak than the average person. She is also very protective of her son, Chris.
- Chris is 16 and the son of Travis and Liza. So far, a lot has not been revealed about this character although fans got a glimpse into his story in the extended trailer for Fear the Walking Dead that premiered at Comic-Con.
Fear the Walking Dead will premiere on Sunday August 23, 2015, on AMC. You can view the Comic-Con trailer for Season 1 here .
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[Image credits: San Diego Comic Con 2015 screen captures]