'The Walking Dead' Spinoff Adds Two (or Three) to Main Cast

You didn't forget about "Fear the Walking Dead," did you? AMC just started filming "The Walking Dead" Season 6, which will premiere in October, but the spinoff series is also under way, with a summer premiere scheduled.

Two new names were recently confirmed for FTWD, with a strong hint to a third. Entertainment Weekly revealed that "Orange Is the New Black" actress Elizabeth Rodriguez is joining the new TWD show as a series regular. Deadline just updated that "666 Park Avenue" alum Mercedes Mason (also credited as "Masohn") would also be joining the show as a regular. They also noted, "I hear Ruben Blades is in talks to play her father." "In talks" isn't a done deal, but his name is now out there and it would be a surprise to see the "Safe House" star cut at this point.

So here's the current lineup:

• Cliff Curtis as Sean Cabrera
• Kim Dickens as Nancy Tomkins
• Alycia Debnam-Carey as Ashley Tomkins
• Frank Dillane as Nick Tomkins
• Elizabeth Rodriguez
• Mercedes Masohn
• Ruber Blades (maybe)

A few other characters were revealed back in September but don't have official actors attached at this point.

"Fear the Walking Dead" is set in Los Angeles at the dawn of the zombie apocalypse, not that anyone is likely to call them "zombies" in this show either. It's meant to be very different from the main show and not really a traditional "spinoff" in that no one from the main show will be featured. As executive producer David Alpert told The Daily Beast back in March:

It's not quite a prequel. We're going to play with the timeline a little bit, so you'll be seeing things that you haven't seen on [The Walking Dead]. It's in an entirely different location-we shot the pilot in Los Angeles-and we're going to invest ourselves in these characters that are nuanced, detailed, and honestly really f--ked up and having these awful experiences between themselves, and trying to find a way, as a lot of us do. You have an ex-wife, you have an ex-husband, and you're trying to find out, 'How do I pick up the kids from school?' and just when you think you can barely hold on, zombies start coming. [...] There's going to be six seconds that reference the mother show. Six seconds. Other than that, the show will be an entirely stand-alone thing. The rules will be the same: zombies don't talk, and there will be no zombie animals. But other than that, as far as references and things, there will only be a few Easter eggs-and those six seconds."

FTWD production started in L.A. but then it's moving to Vancouver. Six episodes will premiere in summer 2015 (no official date yet) and AMC already gave the thumbs up to Season 2 for 2016. Are you in?


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