It's already common knowledge among "Walking Dead" fanatics that AMC's new spinoff of the series, "Fear The Walking Dead," is going to be a predecessor of sorts that highlights life at the beginning of the outbreak.
Just how closely connected the two shows will be is the real mystery.
Thanks to a recent report in Entertainment Weekly, it's starting to get more obvious that the shows are going to be heavily "intertwined." Robert Kirkman, an executive producer on both programs, knows what the future plans for the shows are better than most .
Here's what he said to EW about them working in the "same universe":
"Everything that happens in 'Fear The Walking Dead' is in the same universe as 'The Walking Dead,' so any rule that we find out and anything they see in the early days is definitely something that was happening in the past of the other show. These two shows are very intertwined in the same world, even if their characters aren't necessarily going to interact because of geographical distances. So yeah, anything that you learn from 'Fear the Walking Dead' will apply to the mythology of 'The Walking Dead' and vice versa. So you are going to get to see that the characters learn that they're all infected in a much different way. But all the rules do apply and are the same. That will be some of the fun if you're watching both shows."
A tiny spoiler, and the first glimpse at the new show's plot line, in Kirkman's quote is that the new characters are going to find out that the plague is an airborne illness. All the way back in season one, Rick Grimes and company travelled to the CDC Headquarters in Atlanta only to find a widowed (and suicidal) Dr. Edwin Jenner. He secretly tells Rick that everyone is already infected and that all people transform into walkers upon dying. Rick doesn't reveal this to his group until the finale of season two, and it is one of the biggest moments in the early part of the series.
As Entertainment Weekly also points out, "Fear The Walking Dead" is most likely going to take place during the critical time "The Walking Dead" skipped because of Rick's coma in the pilot episode. Before he is hospitalized, Rick knows an outbreak is about to begin, but exactly how everything takes a turn for the worst was passed over. He wakes up and humanity has basically been erased. The chance of seeing what went on during that critical time should excite all "Walking Dead" fans.
