Fear The Walking Dead's Scott Gimple Teases A Major Time Jump
A batch of "The Walking Dead" episodes designated as Season 10C aired in early 2021, focusing on smaller, character-driven stories. This change in approach was a direct result of the ongoing pandemic — originally, Season 10 was supposed to end in mid-2020, but this third portion of Season 10 was produced to tide fans over while the pandemic made production of Season 11 unfeasible. Now, "The Walking Dead" Season 11 is on its way, scheduled for an August 22 premiere.
Meanwhile, amidst the production irregularities of "The Walking Dead," spinoff series "Fear the Walking Dead" progressed somewhat regularly story-wise, despite a gap in the midst of its sixth season. That season concluded on June 13, and fortunately for fans of the extended "Walking Dead" zombie-verse, the show is already scheduled to return for its seventh season on a date that has yet to be announced.
Even though "Fear the Walking Dead" airs concurrently with its parent show, the two series' stories are still separated by a significant time gap. Some viewers have begun to wonder if "Fear The Walking Dead" might jump ahead in time so that the new seasons of both "Walking Dead" shows might take place during the same period of time and increase the potential for relevant crossovers. "Walking Dead" franchise producer Scott Gimple responded to this line of inquiry in a panel at Comic-Con 2021.
A time jump is possible, but nothing is confirmed
As quoted in an article by Digital Spy recounting a Comic-Con panel in which he took part, "Walking Dead" and "Fear the Walking Dead" executive producer Scott Gimple addressed the idea of a jump ahead in time in "Fear the Walking Dead" by first stating simply that "it's possible."
"Fear the Walking Dead" currently takes place at the same time as events from midway through the ninth season of the original series. Progressing through the events of the balance of Season 9 and the inflated Season 10 of "The Walking Dead" at just a slightly faster pace than its predecessor would likely mean "Fear the Walking Dead" would remain in the main series' past up until its conclusion, especially with the final "Walking Dead" season imminent.
Gimple remained vague about whether or not "Fear the Walking Dead" might jump forward in time to close that gap, promising nothing without denying the possibility. "We've talked about things on this show," Gimple said, "and we've talked about things on other shows." He went on to emphasize the importance of character development, stating that "it's definitely about the individual journeys rather than the mythology. Those serve the mythology in that we get a peek at more through them."
In short, Gimple seems to be emphasizing that story decisions are made in service of character first, and concerns like syncing the plots of multiple "Walking Dead" shows second. Nevertheless, assuming it makes sense for its characters' respective stories, a time skip could happen on "Fear the Walking Dead."