‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Season 4B Trailer Storms Into Comic-Con

There’s a storm coming, one that’s about to push the uneasy alliance at the heart of Fear the Walking Dead to its already fragile limits.

At its Comic-Con panel, the AMC zombie drama unveiled a brand-new trailer for the second half of its fourth season, currently on hiatus until August. It’s the first official glimpse at what to expect from the continuing adventures of Morgan Jones (Lennie James), Alicia Clark (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and their fellow traveling companions since the highly divisive midseason finale, in which original series lead Kim Dickens’ Madison was killed off against the star’s wishes.

What are Alicia and her crew up against when season four resumes? Based on the Comic-Con trailer, they are about to weather an incredible zombie-filled storm, one that should give Syfy’s Sharknado franchise a run for its money. The trailer sees the new rag-tag group scattered to the nine winds, thanks to some incredibly windy weather. A storm is on its way to ravage the Fear the Walking Dead cast, one that stands to split the group into several smaller pockets. 

“They could be anywhere,” Alicia opines at one point. “We could find them, or we could find them dead, or we could die trying to find them.”

Among the spotted individuals: Luciana (Danay García), who meets someone new and is asked why she’s willing to help a total stranger. “I have some things to make up for,” she tells him, a reference to the vengeance quest she embarked on earlier this season with Alicia and Strand (Colman Domingo). Speaking of Alicia and Strand, the two of them are seen imbibing together. At the panel, it was confirmed that everyone’s favorite Fear the Walking Dead conman will stumble upon a mansion replete with a well-stocked wine cellar in the midst of the storm — and with Alicia along as a drinking co-pilot, she might remind both Strand and viewers of Victor’s late, great drinking partner: Madison, Alicia’s mom.

Elsewhere in the trailer, we see Morgan standing side-by-side with Jenna Elfman’s June, though he’s also seen on his own at one point, staring into a mirror, some troubling words scrawled upon his forehead: “I lose people, I lose myself.” It appears to be a sign that once again, Morgan is on the cusp of losing his mind.

In addition to the troubles from the storm, the Fear crew are about to encounter some other new potential friends and foes. The trailer shows a few new castmembers for the remainder of season four, including Aaron Stanford, fresh from finishing his starring run on Syfy’s 12 Monkeys. Also cast: Mad TV comedian Mo Collins, who winds up on the receiving end of Morgan’s bo-staff maneuvers, as well as prolific stage actor Stephen Henderson (Manchester by the Sea), playing the stranger who encounters Luciana. 

Are these new strangers going to acclimate easily to the greater Fear the Walking Dead group? The final spoken words in the trailer ought to raise some concerns on that point: “It’s tough out here… you should be careful.” It could be a warning shot, yes, but could also be the extension of an olive branch — or, to keep the weather analogy going, a port in the storm.

Of course, Fear the Walking Dead has already endured a storm of sorts this season, having undergone some massive status quo changes. First, it brought Lennie James’ Morgan from the flagship Walking Dead over to the cast of the Western-rooted spinoff, the first time the two shows have overlapped on such a grand scale. Morgan’s arrival came paired with some other high-profile additions, including Maggie Grace (Lost) as tough-as-nails journalist Althea, Jenna Elfman (Dharma and Greg) as a chameleon-like survivor ultimately named June, and Garret Dillahunt (Deadwood) as soft-hearted gunslinger John Dorie.

The introduction of four key characters came at the expense of two longtime Fear the Walking Dead castmembers: Frank Dillane and Kim Dickens, who played recovering drug addict Nick Clark and his mother Madison respectively. In the case of Nick’s death, Dillane confirmed it was his choice to exit the series. For Madison, however, it was another story: Dickens has made it clear that she was opposed to her character’s death, and that she made her disagreement known to showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg.

“Basically, it was decided,” Dickens previously told THR. “You don’t really have a choice. It’s ultimately up to the writers and the producers. They saw my disappointment. They saw what I disagreed with about it. But it was always a respectful conversation. There were a few conversations, and they were always respectful, but they were heartfelt. I definitely spoke my mind. I was not in any way battling them though, ever. It’s ultimately the writers’ and producers’ decision in television.”

For their part, Chambliss and Goldberg have defended the decision to kill Madison, saying the future of season four will all stem from the death of the original Fear the Walking Dead star: “A lot of the back half of the season will be about, ‘How do we exist together? Who are we to each other? What do we do going forward? How do we carry on what Madison lived for? How do we maintain hope in this often bleak world?’ There’s a lot of things these people will be wrestling with. Those are stories that we’re excited to tell, and we’re really looking forward to hearing the audience’s reaction when we do tell them.”

Keep following THR.com/FearTheWalkingDead for more details.