Cliff Curtis starts filming Walking Dead spin-off

The highly-anticipated zombie apocalypse prequel Fear The Walking Dead has started shooting in Vancouver and for the first time, with the cast being seen on the location set of the new AMC series.

Rising stars Cliff Curtis and Alycia Debnam Carey headline The Walking Dead spin-off and both were spotted prepping scenes on the streets of the Canadian city that will double for Los Angeles.

And in a behind-the-scenes video, Executive Producer and The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman promised fans that the prequel is "going to be a very cool show".

Other cast members spotted doing scenes included Kim Dickens, Frank Dillane, Mercedes Mason and Elizabeth Rodriguez.

Producers of the new series have remained pretty tight-lipped about the production but treated fans to a little bit of the action in the short video released on YouTube.

"There's so much story by way of the zombie world that has to come," said showrunner Dave Erickson from the set.

"You expect a certain of thing of The Walking Dead. We want to give that sense and then pull the rug out from under them."

Comic book writer Kirkman stressed that the series will stand alone and "tell its own story".

"You don't need to have watched The Walking Dead to understand Fear the Walking Dead," he said in the video.

"As far as the timeline goes, we're pushing the things back. We're going to be dealing with the initial start of the outbreak."

The pilot for Fear The Walking Dead was actually shot in LA where the story takes place but the remaining episodes are being filmed in the Canadian city where production costs are lower then in Hollywood.

The original series The Walking Dead was set in and around Atlanta and shot on location there and in the Georgia countryside. Georgia, too, offers financial incentives for movies to be filmed in the state.

Season one of the prequel will have six one-hour episodes and is set to debut on the cable network this summer.

A second season has already been greenlit.

Fear The Walking Dead has an international cast, some of whom are experienced actors and others who are starting out.

Show lead Cliff Curtis, 46, who's from New Zealand, has been a mainstay in Hollywood films and television since making a name for himself with the 2002 Kiwi movie Whale Rider.

He's appeared in films such as Runaway Jury, Live Free Or Die Hard and Fracture and starred on TV in Missing and Gang Related.

Australian actress Alycia Debnam Carey, 21, appeared in Into the Storm and the 2014 horror flick The Devil's Hand while the 24-year-old British actor Frank Dillane's most famous role to date is as Tom Riddle in 2009's Harry Potter And the Half-Blood Prince.

Alabama native Kim Dickens, 49, has appeared in TV's Sons Of Anarchy and Netflix's House Of Cards and was seen on the big screen last year in Gone Girl.

Swedish-American actress Mercedes Mason, 33, has had small roles in several TV shows including NCIS: Los Angeles and Californication and New Yorker Elizabeth Rodriguez has had recurring roles in Orange Is The New Black and Grimm.

- Daily Mail