EXCLUSIVE: Gone Girl standout Kim Dickens has been tapped as the female lead opposite Cliff Curtis in the pilot for The Walking Dead companion series at AMC. The project was created by Robert Kirkman, on whose graphic novel The Walking Dead was based, and Dave Erickson, with Adam Davidson set to direct. Dickens landed the female lead after a lengthy casting process, with AMC testing a number of actresses for the role.

The untitled Walking Dead spinoff, code name Cobalt, takes place during the same zombie apocalypse depicted in the blockbuster mothership series but in a different location. It revolves around a divorced teacher (Curtis) and a guidance counselor (Dickens), who are working together and are in a relationship. The counselor has two children from a previous marriage, played by Frank Dillane and Alycia Debnam Carey. She looks like the girl next door but has a darkness to her, a troubled past that will come back to haunt her.

In addition to David Fincher’s hit thriller Gone Girl, Treme and Deadwood, Dickens recently recurred on FX’s Sons Of Anarchy. She is with Gersh.