‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Searches for Safe Harbor in Season 2

They’re on a boat! AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead is setting sail for its second season as Madison (Kim Dickens), Travis (Cliff Curtis) and their fellow Los Angeles–based survivors board a luxury yacht to escape the zombie-infested city. But there’s plenty of danger lurking on the high seas in the form of human threats and waterlogged walkers. “The zombies are able to tread and float, so they will make their way to you,” Dickens says. “You’ll see them ravaged by the saltwater and the sun. It’s not pretty.”

In order to replicate the open water, production relocated to Baja Studios in Rosarito, Mexico, and took advantage of its two-acre filming tank, which was originally constructed for James Cameron’s classic 1997 film, Titanic. “I wasn’t super excited about that because it’s windy and I’m a little prone to motion sickness,” Dickens says. “But the tank blends with the horizon of the ocean, so it’s pretty phenomenal.”

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The close quarters of the yacht will provide plenty of drama for the passengers, who include Madison’s children, Nick (Frank Dillane) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey); Travis’s son, Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie); former barber Daniel Salazar (Ruben Blades); and his daughter, Ofelia (Mercedes Mason). “It’s a lot of different personalities and a tinderbox of emotion,” Dickens says. “Madison’s moral compass is challenged, and she finds herself faced with making some uncomfortable alliances.”

One figure on Madison’s radar is the yacht’s mysterious owner, Strand (Colman Domingo), who befriended Nick in Los Angeles and offered the survivors a way out of town aboard his ship. “If they do end up trusting each other, it’s going to be hard-earned,” Dickens says. “This extended family is on a mission together to find a safe haven, and the hope from there is that they’ll build a new community.”

Fear the Walking Dead, Season premiere, Sunday, April 10, 9/8c, AMC