With Fear the Walking Dead now officially back for the second half of Season 2, fans can resume wondering when (or if) there will ever be a tangible connection drawn between the spinoff and its zombpocalyptic predecessor, The Walking Dead.
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For the record, Fear showrunner Dave Erickson has made reference on numerous occasions to this prospect — all but panning the idea, telling TVLine in June, “As interesting as the ways that [TWD showrunner] Scott [M. Gimple] & Co. are able to shift the comic book narrative and really explore that, there is no Fear in that universe… [the spinoff] didn’t come from the comic, so some tectonic plates would have to shift to make a crossover happen.”
Plus, Erickson added, “From a geographical standpoint, it’s going to be very difficult for us to ever get to the East Coast, and from a narrative standpoint, with TWD being six seasons in and going on seven, I don’t think we’ll ever quite catch up with them, so chronologically, it would be difficult as well.”
But, c’mon, since when have super fans ever let a little thing like rationality get in the way of their deep-seated desires? Rumors about a crossover still abound and even Erickson himself had to admit it would be pretty cool.
“There are no crossover plans right now. I would love to see those stories conflate at some point, but there are no plans to do so,” he said during a TCA panel. “There’s no intention of having Easter eggs or character references.”
Yeah, yeah. My opinion, take it or leave it, is that Fear could seriously benefit from some TWD crossover action. Hell, at this point, even the possibility of a potential crossover arc would make me feel more invested in the laboriously slow-burning spinoff.
So, since we all know you can never rule anything out in TV, here are a few things we’ve already seen on Fear from The Walking Dead universe — along with a few that some fans are convinced are coming.
1. Negan’s backstory
TWD‘s nefarious new villain Negan, played brilliantly so far by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, has clearly built up quite a reputation for himself. But how did he come to wield so much power and influence? Where did he come from? According to comicbook.com, his backstory will be revealed in The Walking Dead comic world created by Robert Kirkman. They also allude to the fact there is a chance — albeit a very slim one — that fans will get to know about Negan’s past through Fear.
Mercedes Mason, who plays Ofelia Salazar on Fear, is on board with the idea, saying, “That would be pretty incredible, especially because we’re just now meeting him on that show. I’m totally caught up on The Walking Dead, by the way. I am genuinely a fan of the show so we’re just now starting to meet Negan over there, and who knows what he has done prior?”
2. The Abigail
Remember the last few moment of TWD‘s Season 6 premiere, when the screen faded to black as the infernal sounds of a loudly honking horn blared in the distance? At the time, Alexandria was under attack, and everyone was mid-freak-out. The question on everyone’s mind, though, was, “Who is honking that gosh-damn horn?” And some fans suggested perhaps it was none other than Fear‘s Victor Strand aboard his yacht, The Abigail.
More:Who was honking that horn in TWD‘s Season 6 premiere?
This feels like it would ripple the space-time continuum somehow, but let’s roll with it. While we learned it was not indeed Strand’s boat at that particular point in time, what’s to say the Abigail won’t make her way to the Eastern seaboard at some point? Yes, Rick and his crew are somewhere in rural Georgia. But we can’t be sure of precisely where, and there are many parts of Georgia that are coastal. Since Erickson makes it clear traversing so much land would be nearly impossible for the survivors, perhaps the way they come to arrive at Rick’s camp is via the sea.
3. The CDC
I’m not even sure if you can call this an Easter egg, but it’s the most tangible connection we have so far. In the first season of Fear, an infected homeless man attacks an LAPD officer, who then shoots him through the eye. At this point, members from the CDC, or Center for Disease Control, quarantine station in Los Angeles take to the streets to try to contain the threat. In The Walking Dead, the CDC is first mentioned by Morgan early in Season 1 when he tells Rick the Atlanta CDC facility was used as an evacuation site. Later in the season, Rick’s group decides to travel to the facility to see if there is a cure for the virus or any kind of government help, really. They discover a man named Dr. Jenner inside, who comes to admit he is the only remaining staff member of the CDC. He stayed behind when everyone else either left, was killed off or committed suicide.
Again, since one would assume the CDC would naturally be called upon in a real-life application of this sort of situation, I’m really pointing it out because it show the de-evolution that occurs between Fear and The Walking Dead. In Fear, the CDC is still assessing the situation and therefore still a source of hope. In TWD, the CDC has already been overrun and essentially been rendered useless.
4. A Carl cameo
Wait, wait, wait… you’re meaning to tell me Carl popped up in Fear and I didn’t even notice it? Did you?! To be fair, this has never been confirmed by actor Chandler Riggs, who plays Carl, or by anyone in the FTWD/TWD camp. However, Moviepilot.com produced some pretty compelling evidence, pulling a still from an episode of Fear last year that definitely appears to include Carl walking the streets of Los Angeles. Since this is highly illogical in the timeline of the outbreak given Carl’s age when we first meet him in TWD, one must assume this (if it is Riggs) was a subtle nod to the OG zombie series.
5. Characters crossing paths
Just because Erickson keeps saying there won’t be any character crossovers between Fear and TWD doesn’t mean we have to believe him — after all, it’s not like the showrunners of these AMC series haven’t tricked us all in the name of suspense before (hello, Glenn “dying” by the dumpster!). So who can blame us for getting excited when a video post popped up on The Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick’s website Nerdist teasing a potential character crossover?
In the vid, on-air correspondent Jessica Chobot revealed, “Our sources tell us that at least one of the characters who will be leading The Walking Dead spinoff will be appearing for a six-episode arc in Season 6 of The Walking Dead. They’ll cross paths with Team Rick in Georgia before presumably making their way toward the West Coast for the L.A.-based show.”
6. A connection between Nick and Rick
Way back at the beginning of Fear‘s first season, I suggested that Nick was the parallel to TWD‘s Rick. And, apparently, some viewers think the similarities between these two seminal characters runs deep — so much so that they believe there will be a link made between Nick and Rick leading up to some sort of pivotal crossover scene. Is that possible? While it doesn’t seem like an impending possibility, how cool would it be if Nick wound up being Rick’s nephew or something? After all, we know little to nothing about TWD characters’ extended families prior to the outbreak.
More:Proof Fear the Walking Dead‘s Nick and The Walking Dead‘s Rick are parallels
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