‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Stars, EP on Moving the Show to Georgia in Season 8

Fear the Walking Dead may have just returned for the second half of its seventh season, but by the time things wrap up in a few months, expect some big changes in the series, both on screen and behind the scenes. Specifically, after shooting in Texas since 2018, Fear will be moving back to the franchise’s home turf in Georgia.

“We are in the planning stages of season 8 now,” co-showrunner Andrew Chambliss told Decider, “so of course given our move, the story is being constructed with that in mind in terms of the locations we’re writing to. You’ll see this is further down in Season 7, but the end of Season 7 was written with the move in mind. So the narrative is geared towards the change of location as well.”

Unlike The Walking Dead, which has stayed in the general area of Georgia, Virginia and the environs for 11 seasons now, even establishing a massive studio in the area, Fear the Walking Dead has jumped around to other locales. The show started in Los Angeles, before staging seasons in Vancouver, Baja and finally Austin. And then on November 11, 2021, the Austin Chronicle reported that Fear would be moving once again.

The reason? Not a story based one, but most likely a financial one, as incentives to film in the area have shrunk in recent years. Meanwhile, with a home-base back in Georgia, and The Walking Dead wrapping filming back in March, chances are it will be significantly cheaper and easier to move Fear nearer to the Senoia studios. That said, Fear‘s production is reportedly moving to Savannah, which is a not insignificant almost four hour drive away.

That said, the actors involved in the show — assuming the survive the current season — seem excited to change environs, once again.

“I think I am,” Colman Domingo, who plays Strand on the series, said when asked if he was excited about the move. “Although we had such a great time filming in Austin. I think many of our cast put down roots in Austin. But the show has always been a show that traveled. We’ve gone from Los Angeles, to Vancouver, to Baja, to Austin. Austin was the longest we’ve ever been in one location. So I think for story it provides a new landscape… And it provides new dining experiences for our cast off hours.”

As for Lennie James, who has played Morgan Jones back on The Walking Dead and then on Fear, returning to Georgia will be a bit of a homecoming. While the actor quickly shut down any talk about the move allowing him to return for the final episodes of TWD (“I couldn’t possibly answer that question,” James said), he did think that, like Domingo, the move will allow for the show to “use the landscape, environment and cultures” to tell the story in similar ways to how it captured previous areas.

“I’m looking forward to the same thing happening now that we’re back in Georgia,” James said. “It’s going to be a different Georgia to what it was when I was back [on The Walking Dead]… I’m looking forward to the challenges and the opportunities.”

Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC, and streams a week early on AMC+.