It’s long been rumored that The Walking Dead spinoff series’ timeline would start before the zombie apocalypse. Now, series creator Robert Kirkman has confirmed the news.

Speaking at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas this weekend, Kirkman explained how the yet-to-be-titled “companion series” kicks off.

“The timeline is taking place a little bit earlier than the original show. Rick Grimes woke up from a coma and was like, ‘Oh, man, zombies, weird!’ We’re going to possibly see that unfold a little more in the other show,” he said. “But I wouldn’t call it ‘prequel’ because the entirety of the show is not going take place before [The Walking Dead]. It will eventually form a path running concurrently.”

We can’t wait to see how everyday humans react to news of a zombie apocalypse. Will we see news reports about these horrible creatures running around? Will they be described as zombies? Will we see someone transform into a zombie without being bit? By beginning pre-apocalypse, there are many cool opportunities for the show to explore.

AMC announced last week that season 1 of the new Walking Dead spinoff will only consist of six episodes, so one could assume the series won’t start too far before the apocalypse. They’ll have to enter the post-apocalypse world before season 1 ends, or else they won’t have much of a Walking Dead-type show on their hands.

Interestingly, Kirkman also revealed that, while the two shows stand on their own, the companion series will explain elements that’ve been left as mysteries on the original Walking Dead. “[T]here may be some things that are discovered in the companion show that haven’t been discovered in the other show yet. So there could be like a thing where, ‘Oh, they encountered a zombie in season 4 in The Walking Dead that could do this and now we know why that was.’ So we’re going to be doing things like that are going to be pretty cool, but for the most part [the two shows] should be able to stand alone.”

The Walking Dead spinoff premieres in “late summer” and stars Cliff Curtis, Kim Dickens, Frank Dillane, and Alycia Debnam Carey.

Do you think you’ll be tuning into ‘The Walking Dead’ spinoff?

Meanwhile, The Walking Dead season 5 aired its third-to-last episode of the season last night. Check out our recap of the very busy episode!