July 10--Comic-Con attendees were the first to get a glimpse of "Fear the Walking Dead," the upcoming companion series to "The Walking Dead," during the show's presentation in Hall H on Friday.
The panel kicked off with the trailer of the show, which show runner Dave Erickson described as starting as a family drama through which the apocalypse is filtered.
In the trailer, we see this "highly dysfunctional family" come face to face with the first phases of the zombie apocalypse that viewers of "The Walking Dead" have been familiar with for years.
The trailer introduces viewers to these new characters. Travis, played by Cliff Curtis, who has a strained relationship with his son Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie) and is engaged to Kim Dickens' character, Madison, a single mother to Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and Nick (Frank Dillane).
Viewers also see how a mysterious illness seems to be affecting the students at the school where Travis and Madison work.
Nick is the first character we see encounter the walkers in the trailer.
During the panel discussion, Erickson revealed that "Nick is one of the first ones who gets a sense of what's going on" with regard to the walkers.
Erickson also elaborated on how part of the tension in the show comes from the audience knowing where the outbreak is going while the characters themselves have to slowly find out what is happening to the world around them. The heart of the show lies in how this situation changes people.
The series, set in L.A., will premiere on Aug. 23.
