While Fear The Walking Dead, the spinoff that debuts on AMC this Sunday, takes place in the same world but before the original series and on the other side of the country, there have to be a few connections, right? Will Fear The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead ever crossover? On one hand, this is a great chance to tell a completely isolated story and build a universe. Plus, it would be physically improbably to have Daryl, Carol, or Morgan originate on the West Coast series, however there have to be a few ways that the new series can wink and nod at fans. We already know that the casts of both shows hang out, so we can dream.
Several months ago, there was a rumor that a Fear The Walking Dead lead would recur on The Walking Dead Season 6, but that rumor went quiet quick. The show's writers have discussed their willingness to do a crossover, but frequently lower expectations about the possibility. In May of 2015, executive producer of Fear The Walking Dead Rick Erickson told TVLine to "never say never, but there are no plans right now. The geography is an obstacle, and frankly somewhere down the road it will become an even greater obstacle."
That said, he may have just been talking about major cast crossovers. In December, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that in early scripts for the pilot, a character from The Walking Dead Season 1 makes an appearance. If that remains the case, who could it be? My bet is on Dr. Edward Jenner from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Other candidates include other CDC employees, or someone like Jacqui, Morales, or even Jenny Jones who we don't know as much about. The disease may have spread fast, but LAX is a pretty major airport and telling stories about people on those flights while the virus spread must be difficult to resist.
In case you weren't bummed out enough already, executive producer David Alpert further explained why crossovers were unlikely in an interview with Zap2It. However, he did reveal that there were a number of small Easter Eggs.
“There’s no more mass communication in the show. There’s really not much affect of what goes on. Going to the Prison, the fall of Alexandria has no impact outside of the greater Georgia state. The timeline becomes a little bit less relevant as we go on because the coherence of the country and the world as one society has gone away.”
Quit dashing my crossover dreams with logic, producers! It's important to note that Fear The Walking Dead has already been picked up for a second season, so if whatever minor crossovers they have planned aren't satisfying, there's always hope for more later on.