KCRW's THE SPIN-OFF: "The Walking Dead" Edition

Last month, a standing-room only crowd packed a room at the Las Vegas Convention Center...at 9 in the morning...for one purpose: they wanted to hear about The Walking Dead.

As a part of this year's gathering of the National Association of Broadcasters, I moderated a panel with Robert Kirkman, the creator and executive producer of The Walking Dead; actor Steven Yeun, who plays Glenn on the show; and Charlie Collier, the president of AMC.

The panel discussed a wide range of subjects, including whether Yeun is prepared to see his character die; how extensive the show's universe can become; where the show left things off at the end of the season; and what to expect from "Fear the Walking Dead," the new spinoff that will run on AMC this summer.

We turned the panel into the latest special bonus edition of KCRW's The Spin-Off; listen below!

Live from Vegas, My Chat with "The Walking Dead" Creator Robert Kirkman, Star Steven Yeun and AMC's Charlie Collier (VIDEO)

Selfie with Steven Yeun and Robert Kirkman

I spent 24 hours in Las Vegas earlier this week to moderate a panel at the National Association of Broadcasters convention with "The Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman, star Steven Yeun ("Glenn") and AMC president Charlie Collier. It was a wide-ranging chat covering the launch of the show, as well as where things are heading in Season 6 (more Morgan, as he and Rick reunite) and what to expect from the upcoming companion series "Fear the Walking Dead." We also chatted about the potential of a movie (none on the horizon) and the idea of a foreign companion series (never say never).



Sandra Gonzalez at Mashable attended the panel and wrote up Kirkman's latest hints about the new show, and what he's not telling us about the zombie origins story:

The forthcoming The Walking Dead companion series might be taking place in the early days of the zombie apocalypse, but executive producer Robert Kirkman has no intention of using the show to explain too many details about the zombie virus outbreak.

"[Learning the origins] is not the priority in Walking Dead; that's not the priority in Fear The Walking Dead," Kirkman told a packed panel at the NAB Show in Las Vegas. "Every other story deals with that stuff and we're concerned about the heart."

Which is not to say, of course, that Kirkman doesn't have the origin story worked out; he simply never thought it was the most interesting aspect of the series he wanted to make.

"I know the story, but I've never bothered to write it down," he said. "Let's hope I don't die."

So what will Fear The Walking Dead be?

The show, which debuts this summer and is set in Los Angeles, will take viewers "back to a timid time when the walking dead were more dangerous and more of an ever present threat," according to Kirkman.

Watch excerpts of the panel here: