'The Walking Dead' Spinoff to Star Kim Dickens of 'Gone Girl'

Kim Dickens of "Gone Girl" fame will appear in AMC's "The Walking Dead" spinoff/companion series as the female lead.

The 49-year-old American actress has already starred in "Deadwood", "Lost", "Treme" and "Sons of Anarchy", and has now joined the cast of the AMC series where she will star opposite Cliff Curtis.

The untitled spinoff, whose working name is 'Cobalt', is set in Los Angeles and picks up right when the zombie apocalypse took place; however in a different location this time – a high school and a hospital. Apart from Curtis and Dickens, it also stars Frank Dillane and Alycia Debnam Carey.

Curtis, 46, will play the role of a divorced teacher named Sean who is the beau of Dickens' lead character Nancy. While Nancy is a guidance counsellor, Dillane and Carey will play the roles of Dickens' children from her previous relationship.

The story revolves around Nancy's life, who seems like the girl next door but has a troubled past and the skeletons in her closet will come to back to haunt her.

The project is the creation of Robert Kirkman, whose graphic novel inspired the making of "The Walking Dead", and Dave Erickson, while Adam Davidson is to direct the series. Kirkman also serves as the executive producer on the AMC show alongside Erickson, Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert.

"There are many corners of The Walking Dead universe that remain unseen in the shadows. Being given the opportunity to shine a light into those corners and see what lurks out there is an absolute thrill. I know the fans are anxious to hear what Dave and I have been cooking up for this new universe of The Walking Dead, and I'm happy to be one step closer to sharing it with them," Kirkman had said in a statement when AMC announced the pilot in September, E!Online reports.

After a very lengthy and tiring casting process, in which AMC auditioned many actresses for the lead role, it narrowed down its choice to Dickens for Nancy's role.