Announced last summer as gearing up for a pilot episode, AMC's 'companion' to The Walking Dead has not only earned itself a full series, but has secured itself a guaranteed two seasons. Still untitled (but going by the codename 'Cobalt'), the show stars Cliff Curtis, Kim Dickens, Frank Dillane and Alycia Debnam Carey.
Walking Dead 2 focuses on divorced teacher Curtis: a good man trying to do right as civilisation crumbles around him. He’s joined in the story by a female guidance counsellor (Dickens) and her kids (Dillane and Carey). The show is set in California, some distance from its parent series' Georgia, so we may not see much of a crossover with Rick and co..
“We take incredibly seriously the notion of building a satisfying companion series to the number one show on television," says AMC presidend Charlie Collier. "From the beginning of The Walking Dead on AMC, we’ve been asked questions about what was going on in other parts of the zombie apocalypse, and what it looked like as the world really did ‘turn'. Through this new series, we’re going to find out. We respectfully follow the request of Monty Python as we bring out (the latest of) our Dead.”
Corporate humour. Ho ho, readers.
The two-season deal shows the same confidence in the property that AMC felt for the Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul. The first season of the new Walking Dead will run for six episodes in the late summer of this year, probably leading into season six of the original series. The second spin-off season, which doesn't have a confirmed number of episodes yet, will air in 2016.