Giant Freakin Robot

There’s a lot of craziness going down on The Walking Dead right now as the survivors do their best to settle into their new digs and get comfortable, which is not always an easy task considering damn near everyone and everything they’ve encountered over the previous five seasons has tried to kill them in one way or another. But you can forget all about that for the moment, as the long gestating spinoff, maybe called Cobalt maybe called Fear the Walking Dead, has been picked up for multiple seasons and we now have our first look at the upcoming series.

Deadline reports that AMC has given the go ahead for two seasons of the new series, which marks the second consecutive time that they’ve doled out multi-season commitments to shows that have not even aired yet. Recently, they pulled the same maneuver with Breaking Bad offshoot Better Call Saul, and this latest makes sense by the same logic: both are connected to massively popular shows, so why the hell wouldn’t you want to capitalize on that momentum?

The second half of season 5 of The Walking Dead is quickly shuffling our way (it’ll be here before you know it), but in the meantime we’ve been hearing a number of intriguing new details about the upcoming companion series, Cobalt. The other day we saw some excerpts from the script of the first episode, which shed some light on the setting and plot, and now there’s even more to learn.

Just a heads up, there may be some potential spoilers for Cobalt beyond this point.

As fans while away the hours until The Walking Dead returns to TV screens next month, they’ve had to satisfy themselves on bits and pieces of news from the popular zombie series. We’ve seen a couple promos and heard an interesting casting choice, but that’s about it. On the other hand, as the spinoff series, titled Cobalt, starts to take shape, we’re learning more and more about the project, including potential plot details and the possible return of a familiar face.

There may be spoilers for Cobalt beyond this point. You’ve been warned.

AMC’s The Walking Dead is on a break right now, but that’s never stopped the network from hyping their massively popular zombie drama. But right now there’s even more to talk about beyond new casting and possible future storylines, because things are about to get rolling on the long gestating spinoff series, currently known as Cobalt. Set in the same world as the flagship series, the new adventures go down in a different place, follow new characters, and reportedly even show an earlier era of the undead apocalypse. Cobalt co-creator, and Walking Dead executive producer (he also created the comics the series is based on), Robert Kirkman recently sat down and discussed some of the differences between the two shows.

We know that the action in Cobalt takes place in Los Angeles, the opposite side of the country from the Georgia-based The Walking Dead. It follows Sean Cabrera (Cliff Curtis), Nancy Tompkins (Kim Dickens), her kids Nick (Frank Dillane) and Ashley (Alycia Debnam Carey), and others. While chatting with Entertainment Weekly, Kirkman kept specifics to himself, while driving home how distinct the two shows will be. He said:

As massively popular as The Walking Dead is, AMC’s zombie extravaganza only offers a very limited view of this particular world. With the new companion series, Cobalt, coming down the pipeline, one of the things we’re looking forward to is seeing something besides one small group of survivors wandering endlessly through the Georgia wilderness. Reportedly set in a different time—starting at the beginning of the zombie outbreak rather than jumping into the middle—many have speculated that we could encounter earlier versions of the some of the characters, or perhaps even see a few that died. It’s starting to look like they’re bringing back one character, but it probably isn’t who you expect.

You might remember Morales, played by Juan G. Pareja, from the six-episode first season of The Walking Dead. He and his family were a part of the group that Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) joins up with after he wakes up from a coma in a hospital and discovers the world has been overrun by walkers. While we haven’t seen him in a while, Morales, at least as far as we know, is not dead. When the group decides to go to the CDC, a move Robert Kirkman says he regrets, Morales and his family strike out on their own, heading instead to Birmingham, Alabama to look for other members of their clan. Not being dead definitely makes it easier to bring someone back and provides more options as to how.

The Walking Dead may be on its annual midseason hiatus, but we’ve definitely had plenty to talk about in regards to AMC’s involvement in the zombie apocalypse. We’ve been hearing about the spinoff, or companion series as they appear to prefer it be called, now titled Cobalt, for some time, but the network has recently revealed details and pieced together the core cast, and they just added another actor. The upcoming zombie drama will feature Kim Dickens as the female lead.

Dickens is the forth of the major part to be cast and, according to Deadline, she joins Cliff Curtis, Frank Dillane, and Alycia Debnam Carey. I don’t know much about the two younger actors, but you’ve seen Dillane in one of the Harry Potter movies playing Tom Riddle, and Aussie Debnam Carey made her American debut last summer with Into the Storm, and can be seen playing a Grounder leader on The CW’s The 100. Curtis and Dickens, however, are more known quantities, and should serve as a solid anchor for this new series.