Comic-Con 2016: Fear the Walking Dead panel

Fear the Walking Dead will return Aug. 21 for the second half of the second season, but those who couldn’t wait until then to feast on the zombie drama staggered into Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday afternoon to receive a snack to tide them over. Stars Kim Dickens, Cliff Curtis, Frank Dillane, Mercedes Mason, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Lorenzo James Henrie, and Colman Domingo were joined by executive producers Dave Erickson, David Alpert, Robert Kirkman, and Gale Anne Hurd to riff on the show with an addition to the group: new cast member Danay Garcia.

The Fear the Walking Dead panel, which was moderated by Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick, also unveiled a trailer for the the upcoming batch of episodes. As you recall, when we last saw this band of West Coast survivors, they were scattering in different directions after Daniel turned the Mexican compound into a flaming mess (Nick thought he belonged with the undead; Travis ran off with his severely misguided son Chris at the seeming expense of his marriage to Madison).

They will now attempt to figure out a way to survive on land following a boating horror trip for much of the second season. And that land will be… more of Mexico, as the trailer opened with Nick headed toward Tijuana, where he encounters some gang members and appears to be told by a community leader that he is a chosen one. Also shown: A disturbing scene in which a community watched as a person sacrificed himself by willingly offering himself up for brain food to a horde of zombies.

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“They understand there’s no turning back,” Fear showrunner Erickson told the crowd about our survivors’ story. “We’re going to see a level of violence and intensity in the second half that we haven’t seen before.” Seconded Hurd: “We’re really going to see a lot of things that you probably have never seen on television before during the zombie apocalypse.”

Erickson also addressed the new character played by Garcia (who is best known for her role on Prison Break as Whistler’s girlfriend, Sofia). She’ll play Luciana, who lives in the Tijuana area, where Nick has contact with a collection of people who, somewhat similar to Celia, “don’t see the dead as bad thing,” he said. He describes her as “a bad-ass soldier in this group” and “an orphan of the apocalypse… The two of them form a bond.” Added Garcia: “She’s testing him… She puts him in his place until he passes that test.”

During the audience Q&A, the question burning brightest on everyone’s mind (and the subject of the following panel in Hall H) was asked by a fan: Who do you think Negan killed?

Sorry, Walking Dead fans, no answers on that one.

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