Robert Kirkman’s zombie universe has found itself a good woman to help helm the alternative look at our post-apocalyptic TV world. Kim Dickens has been tapped to headline The Walking Dead spin-off — the one with the code name Cobalt — alongside Cliff Curtis. It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new zombified earth for us: and we’re feeling pretty good about this casting choice.

Perhaps best known for her recent work in Gone Girl (as Detective Rhonda Boney) and FX’s Sons of Anarchy (where she recurred in the final season as Colette Jane), Dickens is no stranger to the small screen. If you were a fan of Treme or Deadwood, you’re also likely to have been a fan of Dickens’ work, to say nothing of her role on Lost and in our personal favorite on this resume of hers, Friday Night Lights as Matt Saracen’s mom. (We’re a sucker for clear eyes and full hearts and literally anything that has to do with Coach “Kyle Chandler” Taylor.)

In Cobalt she’ll play another post-zombie survivor — but theirs is a far, far different tale from that of the folks on The Walking Dead. Dickens will play a guidance counselor opposite Curtis’ divorced teacher, working together and dating in this cruel, cruel world. Dicken’s character also plays mother to two children from her previous marriage (played by Frank Dillane and Alycia Debnam Carey). Like all women in this brave new world, Dickens’ character is supposedly one of those girl next door types, but with a darkness. I smell troubled pasts coming back to haunt our protagonists, don’t you?

How different do you think Cobalt will be compared to The Walking Dead? Let us hear your theories in the comments.

HT: Deadline