AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead is returning soon to finish off its second season. We last left the show’s ensemble cast stranded down in Mexico and broken apart. There are many directions this TV series could go next, given the show’s timeline – which started before the days of the post-zompocalypse world featured in The Walking Dead.
Keeping the original Walking Dead series in mind, there have been many questioning the chances for the cast members from each series to meet up in some way. What would it be like if some of the members from Team Madison were able to link up with some of the members from Team Rick? Well, there is now some clarity on the potential (or lack thereof) for that concept.
Fear the Walking Dead producer Dave Erickson recently spoke with Comic Book about the idea of combining the two Walking Dead shows in some way. While humoring the idea, Erickson has ultimately ruled it out as being too difficult to actually make work:
“As of right now, no, there is no plan… From a narrative perspective, never mind the geography of it all, I think it would be too difficult to pull off. I don’t think there’s anything, as far as I’ve read in the comic, I don’t think there’s any track way for that either. It’s such a complicated proposition and I think for the time being, the two shows just need to exist in their own spheres.”
As mentioned, Fear the Walking Dead currently finds its cast experiencing new threats in Mexico. Meanwhile, The Walking Dead crew have spent six seasons moving from Georgia to Virginia. Given how dangerous travel is for both crews, it makes sense that neither series would be able to find some kind of common element short of ridiculous flashbacks. Even the Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462 web series established how planes are not at all safe in this universe.
To be fair, this is not the first time Erickson has had to answer this question, but one has to wonder if he wishes it was possible. Fear the Walking Dead does decent numbers for AMC (it is a spin-off of its most popular series, after all), but it receives nowhere near the same amount of acclaim. Many fans watch the show begrudgingly more than anything. One could only imagine, as silly as it may be, what kind of shot in the arm a crossover episode would allow for the show.
At the same time, while there are some lingering Walking Dead characters that could somehow find there way into Fear, part of the appeal of the spin-off series is to see something different from the established norm that is the original show. With a promising trailer for the second half of season two, one can only hope the show finds a better footing as well as establishes itself as its own beast, free from the constraints of Robert Kirkman’s original creation-turned-TV-hit.
NEXT: Fear the Walking Dead Season 2B Trailer
Fear the Walking Dead returns August 21 on AMC. The Walking Dead season 7 premieres October 23.
