Fear the Walking Dead Gets Game of Thrones Urgency

Sky has announced it will premiere Fear the Walking Dead at the same time as AMC in the US: 3.30pm on Monday.

The Walking Dead prequel, which stars Kiwi Cliff Curtis, also will be available on Sky’s SD streaming service, Neon, each Monday night.

Fear the Walking Dead is only the second series Sky has aired at the same time as the US; the first was HBO’s Game of Thrones, which also screens on SoHo.

The series is being rolled out worldwide in more than 125 markets but because of a public holiday in the US on September 7, the third episode will not be released globally until September 14.

“The first two episodes are creepily suspenseful — they’re great examples of how effective a slow pace and a moody atmosphere can be,” said the New York Post.

And The Washington Post quipped: “The new series is compelling in its own way, but it will take a while to see how it congeals. Or, more aptly, if it coagulates.”

“Credibility aside, the slow disintegration plays out in satisfyingly tense if formulaic fashion,” the New York Times acknowledged.

But Variety dubbed the opening episodes “more a snack than a feast” and the Los Angeles Times it “takes Los Angeles, and itself, very seriously. So seriously that in the first two episodes it is sometimes difficult not to laugh.”

The latter also joked of AMC’s decision to greenlight the franchise spin-off (plus a second season before the first airs): “If Fear the Walking Dead does well, can Fear the Walking Dead: UK be too far behind?”