Are you ready for more post-apocalyptic, survival thriller drama?
The Walking Dead is such a goliath-sized hit, it was inevitable that AMC would pull a CSI: Miami and order a second series. That very thing has come to pass as of early September 2014, and the first details about the new show have started to appear.
Like Telltale Games' award-winning adventure game, the untitled TV sidequel will follow another group of strangers thrown together by the zombie apocalypse and forced to rely on each other to survive. It seems designed to answer viewers' questions about what's happening elsewhere in the world beyond what we see on the original show. One rumor suggests that it might be set a little earlier in the timeline, possibly even following the drama of the zombie infection's origins at the CDC and their (obviously failed) efforts to contain it.
Michael Ausiello at TVLine just got his hands on a casting call sheet for the new series, which describes six main characters. The latest doomed survivors you'll be rooting for until they're inevitably eaten are as follows:
• Sean Cabrera: Latino male, early 40s, Sean is described as "a good man trying to do right by everyone in his life." Sounds like the Rick Grimes of this group.
• Cody Cabrera: Sean's son, a "whip-smart and rebellious teen" (aren't they always?) known as "the angriest kid in town."
• Nancy Tompkins: A thirtysomething single mom who seems like the girl next door, but don't underestimate her. The call sheet says "there's an edge to her."
• Nick Tompkins: Nancy's teenage son who is apparently "screwed up." (What is this, the Red Dawn of the Deadverse?) He's described as "too old to stay home, too scared to flee."
• Ashley Tompkins: The one level-headed teenager on the show, she's Nancy's ambitious daughter. Think of her as the over-achiever Yin to her brother's Yang. Unlike him, she's ready to leave home even though she enjoys a good relationship with her mom.
• Andrea Chapman: That's right, another Andrea is coming to The Walking Dead. This one is a fortysomething former flower child who lives in the city's outskirts so she'll have space to "recover after a horrible marriage."
The call sheet refers to a "city" setting more than once, but just what that city is or where it's located is still a mystery. (Solid bet: it won't be in Georgia.) Its title is unknown as well. (We're rooting for The Walking Dead: Des Moines.)
One thing we do know is that Dave Erickson, a writer from Sons of Anarchy, will serve as showrunner after co-creating the show with Walking Dead mastermind Robert Kirkman.
