'Fear the Walking Dead' Showrunner describes how the show can remain unique
Fear the Walking Dead is arriving for its second season, this time extended from six to fifteen episodes to celebrate its first-season success. Showrunner Dave Erickson sat down with Collider, who discussed how he'll keep the show from becoming a cut-and-paste of The Walking Dead.
Erickson said that this season intends to clarify that there is no home to go back to, but the sea provides this barrier from the real world, where nobody knows what's going on or what's coming. "For some it provides hope, for others it drives them to the edge and puts them in a very precarious position."
He addresses Nick, whose own life has been an apocalypse and as he claims the world finally caught up. But though he's "stopped shooting heroin... he hasn't stopped being an addict, so it's just a matter of where he's going to direct it."
Erickson described avoiding the seemingly inevitable diversion into The Walking Dead 2.0 as the biggest challenge they face. "Ultimately, there are certain tropes and conventions that go with the genre. And you have to embrace them to some degree, you need to find a place to live and you need to find a way to survive and fortify and protect yourself.
"The distinction I would make, and I can't minimize this because I think the mileage we're going to get out of this is quite fast, is that because we were able to start where we did... because we really started as a family drama, and used it as a filter to see the apocalypse, I think it allowed us to set up the dynamics between characters and relationships."
He essentially describes the differences between the shows will be reliant on the filters through which we see the show; ie. the different characters and their different personal demons. So far, on paper, these characters have compelling potential, but season 1 didn't quite do them all justice.
Hopefully, a bit more time with them will help fill them out a bit more.
Source: Collider
