'Fear the Walking Dead' Will Not Reveal the Cause of Outbreak

Showrunner Dave Erickson explained why 'Fear the Walking Dead' won't touch on the cause of the oubreak.

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Complex Original

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We've already started to see trailers and clips from the set of Fear the Walking Dead, the upcoming AMC series that follow the zombie apocalypse we know and love from The Walking Dead in its early days in Los Angeles. The first season will follow a new married couple, Travis and Morgan, who just want to "bring their family together under one roof and make everyone whole" while the world is ending. One thing we won't see is the cause of the outbreak that causes the zombie apocalypse. Showrunner Dave Erickson sat down with the Hollywood Reporter to talk about why:

For [creator Robert Kirkman], it's never been about what caused it; it's always been about the impact it has on people. Robert's always said — and this is what we try to anchor Fear in is: Your parents got divorced or there are zombies. You didn't get invited to the prom, or there are zombies. Because we're starting a bit earlier and have more of a slow burn into the apocalypse of season one, it gives us the opportunity to really ground our family's problems. We have this highly dysfunctional, blended family and all the issues that they face and they would have faced if the apocalypse hadn't struck, those are the problems we're exploring. 

Erickson even said he had "a couple of early pitches that touched on" the cause of the outbreak, but Kirkman "shut me down." Womp. 

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