‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Showrunner Addresses The Lack Of Zombies In Episode 4

The biggest gripe among Walking Dead fans watching Episode 4 (entitled “Not Fade Away”) of AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead this week was the lack of any zombies. While there was opportunity for the undead to appear, it seems AMC was more intent on the “edge of your seat” or “fear” element over the “walking dead” element.

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Episode 4 (“Not Fade Away”) of AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead. If you have not viewed this episode, please proceed with caution if you wish to avoid spoilers.

For Fear The Walking Dead’s showrunner, Dave Erickson, Episode 4 was never going to be about the zombies, although the topic was discussed beforehand. As he told Entertainment Weekly, the intent of this episode was to delve into the arrival of the National Guard and why that might not be the saving grace that Travis Manawa (played by Cliff Curtis) was anticipating.

“It was something we talked about quite a bit because there were opportunities, especially in the sequence where Madison goes beyond the fence. But really what this episode is about to a large degree is the realization that the National Guard has arrived and that may not necessarily be a good thing. And it was really about trying to create this tension and anxiety centered around the occupation of a neighborhood, and what was that going to mean for Madison and the rest of her family.”

While it has taken the characters in AMC’s companion zombie apocalypse series, The Walking Dead, several seasons to bring the audience around to the fact the living might actually be more dangerous than the dead, for Fear The Walking Dead, it seems AMC are trying to tackle this subject very early on in the series.

By taking the zombies out of the equation, it should have allowed viewers to concentrate on the fact the National Guard might be the biggest threat to the safe zone in Fear The Walking Dead at the moment. But, instead, it just seemed to leave a glaring hole of lacking zombies for fans of The Walking Dead. And, perhaps that is the problem with Fear, fans already expect blood thirsty kills even though Fear is not yet at the level of post-apocalypse that The Walking Dead is.

However, while disgruntled Walking Dead fans seemed to be the most vocal when it came to a lack of zombies in Episode 4, there still appears to be a solid base of fans that are happy with the slower pace. As one fan pointed out in the comments on a previous article, they “can’t believe all the whining about lack of action and lack of zombies. We already have that show. This one’s about how it gets there.” Which is spot on. The creators of Fear The Walking Dead have said right from the very start that Fear is a completely different show that just so happens to reside within the same universe as The Walking Dead. As Robert Kirkman told IGN, he wanted fans to see “civilization crumble around these people and getting to experience them learning how to adapt in a much faster way, and with much more danger and much more uncertainty”and that is what made Fear different to the original series.

But is setting Fear The Walking Dead in L.A. with a whole bunch of brand new characters at the start of the outbreak enough to prove to fans that these are two different shows? Only time will tell.

Fear The Walking Dead returns to AMC with Episode 5 (“Cobalt”) on Sunday, September 27, 2015.

What did you think of Episode 4 of Fear The Walking Dead? Did the lack of zombies put you off? Or are you happier with the slower pace? Let us know in the comments below!

[Image credits: AMC / Justina Mintz]