[11:58AM PDT] – Hey guys! Welcome to the Fear the Walking Dead live blog! I am sitting inside Hall H waiting for things to begin. Send good thoughts that the wifi holds up under the strain of so many fans and journalists!
[12:00PM PDT] – In the long tradition of SDCC panels, we are not starting on time. Hang tight, y'all!
[12:03PM PDT] – The lights have dimmed and we're being reminded not to film anything, including the footage. So we're still not following the Star Wars Celebrations model of “Footage for everyone.” Chris Hardwick is taking the stage to HUGE applause.
[12:05PM PDT] – We're going to watch a trailer. I will explain as much as I can.
[12:09PM PDT] – Nick is headed to Tijuana. A bunch of people are scarfing their own to the zombies. They enter a fenced in area via bus. They people are chanting, they look like they”re in Mexico (probably Tijuana). The rest of the main cast head to a hotel. “Better indoors than out.” Nick collapses and the people who were sacrificing their own stop him and take him in. “Death is not to be feared but pursued.” There”s a gang running things in Tijuana. Someone falls from the top of the hotel. Mexicans believe the dead are walking to their final resting place, that some people have been chosen. There will a bunch of Nick walking with walkers while covered in blood. The rest of the group seems to be hanging out in the hotel for the rest of the season. Shoutout to “Shaun of the Dead” as they get trapped behind a bar surrounded on all sides by zombies.
[12:10PM PDT] – The group now realizes this is the new normal, we're not going back to our society. Things will get progressively more violent. No one will be talking to zombies this season. We're beyond thinking they're just people on bath salts.
[12:12PM PDT]- Dave Alpert is excited to see their characters become battle-hardened warriors. Watching people shed their old skin and evolve into something new is fascinating to him.
[12:14PM PDT] – Robert Kirkman loves that Fear shows a completely different part of his world. Something we've never seen before.
[12:16PM PDT] – Greg Nicotero talks about the animatronics and how it's fun to do things in Fear you can't do in The Walking Dead because of the timeline. Technology is still working to a degree, so the infected can get a plane propellor in the face or rip their arm in a boat. Side note: Nicotero says it's very difficult to ship dead bodies to Mexico.
[12:18PM PDT] – Cliff Curtis talks about how his character will evolve into a more competent fighter. Travis will become a more badass dad.
[12:22PM PDT] – Frank Dillane is covered in the fake blood a lot and it's so uncomfortable. Whatever is in the fake blood is sticky and where they film is hot so Dillane is not really a fan of it, lol.
[12:29PM PDT] – We just got a great blooper reel and Colman Domingo did an entire scene where he danced to 'Beat It' while in the Captain's Cabin and he was REALLY good. Audience lost it.
[12:36PM PDT] – As the show is moving to Mexico for part of the season, they rules of how the dead are treated. Mexican culture has three different “levels” of death. The day you die, they day you're buried, and the day you're forgotten. But now people are buried OR forgotten and it effects how the people of Mexico behave towards the zombies. They're more pragmatic and/or constructive.
[12:40PM PDT] – We're now opening the floor to audience questions. This part is always hit-and-miss but I'll post anything funny, interesting, or important!
[12:47PM PDT] – Poor Lorenzo James Henrie! He was asked how his character has influenced him as a person and he gave a great speech about bullying but the entire audience thought he said BOWLING. We all just rolled with it though, until Hardwick finally stepped in to say “Oh! BULLY-ING!”
Sunday August 21 at 9/8c will be the premiere of Fear the Walking Dead on AMC!