Sunday night's 'Fear the Walking Dead' finale was a roller coaster ride of zombie-fueled insanity!
WARNING: We're about to discuss spoilers from Sunday night's Fear the Walking Dead finale. If you do not wish to know what happened, zombie-crawl out of here immediately!
Sunday night's Fear the Walking Dead finale was a roller coaster ride of zombie-fueled insanity!
From a heart-wrenching death, to our first full-fledged infected attack, and the potential for zombies at sea -- which would be an awesome first for the TWD universe -- we're already going through Fear withdrawals.
To quench your thirst for more, ETonline called up executive producer Gale Anne Hurd to find out the decision behind Liza's death, what's next for season two, and why the show was named Fear the Walking Dead instead of The Infected. (Which we came up with and think is an undeniably awesome name!)
WATCH: Everything You Need to Know Before Watching 'Fear the Walking Dead'
The Fear the Walking Dead finale was so incredibly insane, yet a great cap to these first six episodes. What was your goal in creating this episode?
Gale Anne Hurd: It really was exactly what you said, to have a season ender that clearly established that -- as the expression goes – we're not in Kansas anymore. The zombie apocalypse is indeed upon us and that Los Angeles is no longer safe for them. Also, to see that there are prices to be paid in the loss of people who are dear to them and the loss of innocence.
And, of course, a price was paid when Liza – played by Elizabeth Rodriguez – was bitten and later chose to end her life. Why did you decide to have Liza as the first main death of the core characters?
GAH: First of all, Elizabeth Rodriguez is such a fantastic actress and [Liza is] someone who paid the price for doing the right thing. She wanted to heal the sick and she went to great lengths to make sure that her son and her ex-husband were saved -- and she paid the ultimate price for that… And that's the world we live in now -- it's a world where you have to make difficult choices. And even though it ultimately didn’t pan out for her, she made the right choice and she can feel good about her choices when she died.
How long do we have to wait before we get season two?
GAH: We've got our writers' room together -- I was actually just in the writers' room and meeting the writers last week -- and we have an idea of where the first six or seven episodes are going to go because it's going to be a 15-episode season. I would imagine that we would be premiering in a Walking Dead-free zone.
MORE: 'Fear' Cast Spills 6 New Details to Keep You Hungry for More!
Is that the goal, to never have Fear and The Walking Dead on air at the same time?
GAH: Who knows? Every year and every season I imagine it will be different but certainly that was how we premiered and, given that we're already writing episodes, and looking forward to shooting at a different time than The Walking Dead, theoretically, that's the timeframe.
For everyone who has just finished season one of Fear and are curious for more, what can you tease about what's next for this family?
GAH: Well, clearly they have compatriots now. The Salazar family and also with this mysterious character that we introduced, Strand… And he brought them to his home and pointed out that he doesn’t plan to stick around because he's got a boat off shore, the Abigail, so that's one means of escape. So that's an interesting thing that we've never really explored before is different modes of transportation than horse or car.
The title, Fear the Walking Dead, has grown on me, but I really would've loved to have seen this series called, The Infected. Was that ever a name that was thrown into the mix?
GAH: Believe it or not, it wasn’t. I think when we started talking about titles and started working on the title sequence, that was at the same time when we were exploring ideas of the show. [It was a play off of the fact that] these characters have not seen any walking dead in this universe, and that was something still on the horizon and hasn't even happened yet. And given that one of the introductions of [the term "the infected"] is from medical professionals, was, once again, not something that we've had on The Walking Dead -- besides a veterinarian. But everyone calls them something different. Even in The Walking Dead when they encounter a group, they call them something else, so they may not continue to call them [the infected], but that's how they're referred to right now.
What did you think of the Fear the Walking Dead finale? Share your thoughts with @LeanneAguilera on Twitter and keep it locked to ETonline later this week for exclusive scoop on season six of The Walking Dead!