Fear The Walking Dead closed out the last of its inaugural six episodes last night, much like the mothership series unfurled its brief first season, with the promise of an uncertain new direction ahead. The second season will debut as close as 2016, but producer Gale Ann Hurd promises not to cover the same ground as its predecessor, and certainly not the same cast.

Speaking to Deadline, Hurd further downplayed any suggestion we might see Fear The Walking Dead interact with The Walking Dead in the near future, given the geographical distance between the pair. Spoilers be warned, but Fear closed out with the Manawas, Clarks, Salazars and the enigmatic Mr. Strand taking refuge in the latter’s coastal home, potentially heading out to sea thereafter, making crossover even more logistically difficult:

It’s truly the rules of the universe. I mean our group of survivors in The Walking Dead haven’t even made it as far as Washington D.C. yet, in six seasons, and they are not that far away. So for the Fear characters to make it across the country? For what? I mean why would you go there? I mean how would we motivate our characters to head to D.C., or you know to head to the Southeast. I just don’t think that that’s something that would be a natural outgrowth of who our characters are and where they are when the show begins. […]

That is truly jumping the shark because it’s not an outgrowth of who your characters are and what it is that each wants and needs. You’re trying to contort them so that they’ll fit into a plot line that simply isn’t logical. I think the thing is to care for the characters.

As to the second season, Hurd stopped short of confirming that its characters would remain in Los Angeles, but promised “we will not be traversing the same terrain either in terms of literal geography or story lines that we’ve seen in The Walking Dead.” Among questions posed of the series, many have wondered how Fear might sustain original storytelling, without inevitably resorting to the same survival tropes as the main series.

We’ll know more of Fear Season 2 with each new outing of The Walking Dead Season 6, including its Flight 462 special, which itself will introduce a new character joining the companion series next year. You can see what AMC had to say below, but did Fear The Walking Dead show any more promise with last night’s finale?

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