Among the most sought after tickets at this Comic-Con were those to the exclusive screening of the pilot for Fear The Walking Dead. And they were some of the most elusive too: Less than 200 lucky guests joined cast and show principals at a Gas lamp theater for a preview of AMC’s companion piece to its smash hit The Walking Dead. As AMC president Charlie Collier reminded everyone before the screening, Fear is a prequel of sorts to the goings on in Georgia, taking place in Los Angeles roughly during the period in which Rick lies in his fateful coma at the beginning of the mother series. To fans who believe the first act to be the best part of zombie movies, this origin story based in Robert Kirkman’s haunting universe delivers big time – it’s impact only heightened by our knowledge of what’s to come. The dread generated by the first isolated symptoms of the zombie apocalypse is somehow only heightened by being set against the apparent normalcy of a life we are thoroughly familiar with. Los Angeles viewers will have the additional pleasure of geolocating the budding pandemic (residents of certain hip Eastside neighborhoods be forewarned: Things don’t look good). Judging from the rough pilot, the series which premieres on August 23 looks to have the potential of being a worthy spinoff. That certainly was the consensus at the party, which followed the screening.

Luca Celada

Kim Dickens at the Fear The Walking Dead party

The Fear cast: Lorenzo James Henrie, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Mercedes Mason, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Frank Dillane, Kim Dickens and Cliff Curtis at the Comic-Con after party.