'Fear the Walking Dead' Season 2 will feature 15 episodes and will air in 2016

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The second season of Fear the Walking Dead will consist of 15 episodes to air in 2016, AMC announced.

The six-installment first season is to premiere on the cable television network Aug. 23 with an extended, 90-minute episode.

"Living in the same universe as The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead is a gritty drama that explores the onset of the undead apocalypse through the lens of a fractured family," a synopsis said.

"Set in a city where people come to escape, shield secrets, and bury their pasts, a mysterious outbreak threatens to disrupt what little stability high-school guidance counselor Madison Clark [played by Kim Dickens] and English teacher Travis Manawa [played by Cliff Curtis] have managed to assemble. The everyday pressure of blending two families while dealing with resentful, escapist, and strung-out children takes a back seat when society begins to break down. A forced evolution, a necessary survival of the fittest takes hold, and our dysfunctional family must either reinvent themselves or embrace their darker histories."

The series co-stars Frank Dillane, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Ruben Blades, Mercedes Mason and Lorenzo James Henrie.