The best zombie fiction isn’t really about the zombies, but about the inhumane things that people do to each other as society breaks down around them. That’s what has made The Walking Dead work for so many years, and it is what makes the new trailer for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live feel like a worthwhile story to tell. Because there is nothing more inhuman than the horrors of war.

The new trailer for the spin-off from the hit AMC series, which sees Danai Gurira and Andrew Lincoln reprising their roles of Michonne and Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead, feels bigger in scale than the original series has ever been. A large military presence is shown, complete with helicopters and legions of soldiers at their disposal, with massive hordes of zombies advancing on humanity, burned out cities, and chemical weapons being dropped from the sky. This series, more than any other in The Walking Dead universe, feels like it will focus on how the horrors of war, particularly what happens when that war feels unwinnable to those fighting it.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live will follow Michonne’s journey to find her husband, Rick, after the pair were separated in the original series. Rick joins the CRM group’s war against the undead, slowly losing his humanity along with his hope for a reunion with his wife. There are moments of brutality mixed with personal introspection in the trailer which feels refreshing, even if it is broken up with a fight against a flaming zombie.

How well the series will balance the large-scale warfare with the intimate, personal moments is going to be the biggest challenge the producers face in making the series stand out among the other two shows in the franchise currently airing. New seasons of both The Walking Dead: Dead City and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon are also in production at AMC. The first episode of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is due out in February of this year.

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