Fear The Walking Dead (2015) has no connection to the existing Walking Dead (2010) series in terms of setting or characters. Though both shows operate during the same global zombie apocalypse, Fear The Walking Dead takes place in Los Angeles and features its own cast. It will not follow any of the story arcs from the comic books, which all exist on the East coast and inform the narrative of the original show.

Fear The Walking Dead’s production team says at this point in time there is no intent to overlap any facet of the two series. Fear The Walking Dead’s story opens shortly after the outbreak, around the time Rick was in his coma in the original series. This will allow them to tell the story of how people navigated the world before it was a complete zombie-infested apocalypse.

The show hopes to differentiate itself both in location and characters as well as its approach to storytelling, creating a fully unique program as opposed to a “second” Walking Dead show. As such, AMC adamantly bills it as a “companion series,” not a spinoff.

Whether the two series will ever collide is not planned, but not impossible. Showrunner Dave Erickson told Hollywood Reporter “There no plans for them to conflate, but I will say this: We are living under the same mythological umbrella. We are telling, ultimately, two parts of the larger story in this world that Robert has created. From a storytelling standpoint, I like the idea of conflating stories; I like the idea of things coming together. If that were ever to happen, it would not be for seasons to come, and there’s no current plan to do so.”