Fear the Walking Dead announces Season 6 renewal, teases new spin-off at SDCC

It may have begun as a spin-off prequel to The Walking Dead, but over the course of almost five seasons, Fear the Walking Dead has truly become it's own thing. With time jumps and cast changes that even the walkers can't deal with, the ever-evolving show has fully emerged out from under the shadow of its mother-show. And now it's emerging for a just announced sixth season.

But first, the cast and crew gathered at San Diego Comic-Con to discuss the show's fifth season, which is still in progress. And SYFY WIRE was there to catch as much of the fear as we possibly could. 

The panel kicked off with executive producers Andrew Chambliss, Ian Goldberg, Gale Anne Hurd, Michael Satrazemis, and Dave Alpert, along with writer Scott Gimple, makeup maestro Greg Nicotero, and original Walking Dead comic creator (as well as EP and writer on this series), Robert Kirkman. 

After recapping the events of the mid-season finale, Satrazemis recounted how he began his undead life as a camera operator on The Walking Dead… and now he's an EP on Fear the Walking Dead. As such, he gave fans thanks for "letting me live my dream.”

Hurd was then asked what she was most proud of after five years on the show. "I'm proud that you guys love us enough to keep us on the air. I'm also proud of showing different sides of the apocalypse from our Native American story to our great women characters,” she said.

Kirkman, who recently ended the run of the comic itself, remarked on this series moving away from the first one: "Giving this show its own identity and flavor, and pushing further away from The Walking Dead, has been exciting.” 

Even more exciting was Gimple chiming in to say that the show has been renewed for a sixth season, though we'll have to wait for more details on that.

Gimple also said that there's a big secret about their shared universe, in that there’s a whole lot of world out there, and the big secret is that all along, there have been other civilizations that have survived. We've seen hints of that, but now we're about to see a whole lot more.

Some of this will be revealed in the new spin-off series, which Gimple said will feature a group of young people who have grown up in a place of safety and comfort while the apocalypse was going down. Now they're going to have to leave that place behind, and embark on a quest. A tease of the new show was promised on July 29. 

Jumping back to Fear the Walking Dead, new cast members Colby Minifie, Peter Jacobson, and Colby Hollman were announced, just as a horde of actors overran the panel. Lennie James, Jenna Elfman, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Austin Amelio, Danay Garcia, Maggie Grace, Karen David, Alexa Nisenson, and Ruben Blades feared nothing and walked right on in. And a message was read from cast member Colman Domingo, who couldn’t be there in person. 

Blades, returning to the series, shared a story about how his character, Salazar, is getting a companion in the form of a cat. The idea was initially shot down, as cats are notoriously hard to work with. Blades stuck to his guns, however, so fans can look forward to Salazar having a cat, as Blades originally intended. He also shared that his band wishes that a zombie would bite him, so that he could die and they could go back on tour. We like Blades (and Salazar) too much to wish for that though. 

Austin Amelio then talked about his TWD character Dwight joining the series: "He hasn't been around people in a while, so he has to have some faith in these people he's meeting... I felt my introduction was very appropriate. It was very Western.”

When asked about what Morgan would do if he knew that Rick Grimes was currently missing, Lennie James said his character would probably go walking across the entire country to find him. (For the record, we’d watch that show.) If anyone is still confused about the timelines between the two existing series, Goldberg clarified that the flagship show is still a few years ahead of Fear, despite the fact that Fear has had multiple time jumps. 

In terms of the show’s mid-season premiere, it will be filmed like a documentary, which will catch everyone up with what the characters are doing. Fans can look forward to that episode when the show returns Aug. 11. Till then, walk on, and fear nothing! 

Click here for SYFY WIRE's full coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2019, including up-to-the-minute news, exclusive interviews, and videos.