Spoilers for the finale of Fear The Walking Dead, which aired Sunday, follow:
The first season of Fear The Walking Dead was much better than I expected. There were true horror movie moments, I felt like I knew the characters and I became invested in them. What’s more is they killed off a major character, which genuinely felt like a loss. I like that they’re keeping us on our toes by establishing early on that no character is safe.

In the final episode we were also introduced to the setting for season two, a yacht off the coast of California owned by smooth-talking millionaire Strand. (Did anyone else think of this song when we learned who/what Abigail was?) In case you think all the conflicts will be between the characters as they struggle to deal with a permanent luxury vacation, showrunner Dave Erickson told The Hollywood Reporter than Strand and his crew aren’t the only people who retreat to the ocean to escape the zombie apocalypse. Here’s some of what we can expect in season two, with more of Erickson’s interview at the source. (I’m leaving out more revelations about the characters and their motivations.) Fear The Walking Dead will return at some future point for a full 15 episodes, which will be split into two air dates. There are mild spoilers for season two in this interview.

Will season two follow the same [slowish at first] pace?
We’ll pick up in a more accelerated pace when we go in to the season. We’ve learned a lot: our characters in their apocalyptic education have learned what walkers are. Even Travis has had to shed some of his humanity for the first time, which was his great struggle. We’ll have more of a shorthand going in to season two. There are still things for them to discover. They haven’t had the benefit of the CDC download. They know the city has fallen and know things are incredibly bad and they know that this is happening in other states and potentially other countries but they haven’t had anybody say to them, “The world is over; this is our extinction event.” That’s something they’ll have to process as they move through season two as well. If I were them, I’d be thinking that there has to be some place to go. Maybe it’s an island. I don’t know. But there’s got to be a place where this contagion hasn’t touched. But we the audience know that’s not true and that will be the next blow that they suffer.

You mentioned on Talking Dead that others likely had the same idea to head to the coast. What might that look like?
We end on one boat and the ocean beyond — but what we’ll come to realize and this will be part of what the military is doing — you’ll see that land is no longer safe. At least not in Southern California. Some people have not been quarantined or driven north or south. But there’s thousands of boats through L.A. County. So a lot of people will stock up the boats and try to get to the water and avoid land as much as humanly possible. You’ll see a lot of people trying to survive. If you look at Strand’s yacht, it’s a pretty handsome vessel. It’s something that you can survive on for a good period of time and that’s something others might covet. So when you get to the question of what’s worse, walker or human, we’ll continue that theme. There will be quite a bit of action on the seas — and we’ll split it between land and water. But it’s going to be an interesting dynamic.

The yacht is already out to sea. Is it already populated? How many more characters will you be adding next season?
If and when we get to the yacht, you’ll see. As we start season two, what’s important to me is the internal conflict with our group is important. There’s going to be external conflict and obstacles to contend with. In terms of the number of characters we’ll add, we’re on that now. But it’s always something I want to be careful about because we have a significant headcount and I want to make sure that we’re exploring the characters that we’ve gotten to know and are living with before we add too many more. Because then it starts to become difficult to tell the story of the family. There will be new characters coming. There will be new conflicts and much more drama on sea and on land but I don’t have a specific number yet.

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

I’m so glad we have another excellent zombie show to follow and look forward to! So pirates are coming I guess. This sounds like a clever twist on the zombie apocalypse, to focus more on the people who are left and fighting to survive rather than their conflicts with the undead.

In case you’re jonesing for more Fear The Walking Dead, there’s a new web-only FTWD series from AMC called Flight 462, which features an as-of-yet grounded plane with a group of passengers during the early spread of the virus. You can watch the first episode here. It looks sufficiently scary, although I would have liked to see a longer introduction. Erickson told THR that at least one character from Flight 462 would be have an overlapping storyline with FTWD.

There’s also a video interview with Erickson and some of the FTWD actors on what’s next for season two. I’m including that below. It’s surprising how many of the actors are foreign as you can’t tell at all when they’re in character. Also, did you know that Kim Dickens is 50? She looks at least 10 years younger.

Oh and The Walking Dead comes back for season 6 next Sunday, October 11! I can’t wait. Here’s hoping Morgan’s story arc lasts the entire season.

Photos credit: Justina Mintz/AMC