"The Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman appeared at the Creative Activism panel at the South by Southwest conference on March 14, and stated that the upcoming spin-off series of the horror drama will initially start as a prequel but will eventually catch up to the time-frame of the original show. 

"It's not going to relate to the comics at all," he stated. "The timeline is taking place a little bit earlier timeframe than the original show. 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." 

How long the series will function as a prequel before it overlaps with events of "The Walking Dead" hasn't been answered, but AMC has green lit the show for at least two seasons. 

As cited by Entertainment Weekly, Kirkman discussed that the spin-off would be able to stand on its own, allowing viewers who haven't seen "The Walking Dead" to still get a complete experience. However, it will reveal things that will interest fans of both shows. 

Furthermore, things that fans discover in one show might explain events that occur in the other. In "The Walking Dead," for instance, the characters learned from a CDC employee that everyone is infected, even while they are alive. The characters of the spin-off show might learn that fact in a different way. 

Kirman also stated that the show will have nothing in relation to the comics and will follow the canon set by the "The Walking Dead" TV show. 

AMC has not yet announced the official title of the show but it is currently codenamed "Cobalt." It has been revealed that actors Cliff Curtis and Kim Dickens will lead the cast alongside Frank Dillane and Alycia Debnam-Carey. 

From AMC's official site, the show will primarily focus on a small family in California that goes through the zombie outbreak as it initially happens, unlike "The Walking Dead" where Rick Grimes woke up and the outbreak already happened.