How “Fear the Walking Dead ”got a 'karmically correct' series finale
She came. She killed. She died. Then… like so many of the zombies she put down along the way, Madison Clark came back from the dead. When actress Kim Dickens returned for the season 7 finale of Fear the Walking Dead, it served as more than just the latest example proving that unless you see a body, a character is never, ever truly dead. It also set the stage for the woman who served as no. 1 on the call sheet for the first four seasons of the show to return for the final season and bring the entire eight-season saga full circle.
Fear the Walking Dead makes its way back to AMC screens on Oct. 22 for the last six episodes, and now that Lennie James' Morgan has cleared out of the picture in his quest to find Rick Grimes — likely on the upcoming The Ones Who Live spinoff — Dickens has reassumed her position as the center square of the ensemble cast. It was not only a welcome return for fans who were shocked and saddened by her character's "death" at the baseball stadium back in season 4, but also for the creative team that originally killed her off.
Lauren "Lo" Smith/AMC Kim Dickens as Madison on 'Fear the Walking Dead'
"Getting to have her back was just such a joy," says executive producer Michael E. Satrazemis, who directed Dickens' departure in season 4 as well as the upcoming series finale on Nov. 26. "I think she's fantastic. And getting to have the experience where we're creating together and able to close the show up together, it felt very special. I don't know if any shows get to be this kind of karmically correct. It's a beautiful circular thing that I'm very happy to be a part of."
But what exactly will Dickens' character be doing in these last six episodes? In the mid-season finale, we saw Madison tell the group of kids from PADRE that their files with information on where they came from before they were abducted were on the island, and they were going to get that info and return them to their families. So how much of that mission — with the help of Rubén Blades' Daniel Salazar — forms the crux of what we will see moving forward?
Lauren "Lo" Smith/AMC Ruben Blades on 'Fear the Walking Dead'
"Well, that's Madison's mission," says Satrazemis. "Madison has a transformative moment to not want to run away anymore — to want to stay, to want to help rebuild, to want to take care of the children that she helped bring over there and find their parents. That's her mission."
But there will be other factors — and other people's missions — at play. The final run of episodes will also see the return of Colman Domingo's Strand, who was completely absent in the first half of season 8. "There will be a return," laughs Satrazemis on the sometimes ally and sometimes villain. "And Strand will be Strand. Sometimes you don't know what shape it's all going to take." (Other characters not seen in the first half of season 8 — like Danay Garcia's Luciana — are also still out there, and Satrazemis notes that Garcia will also be directing her first episode during this last run.)
Lauren "Lo" Smith/AMC Director Danay Garcia on 'Fear the Walking Dead'
Dickens, Domingo, and Blades are the only actors left from season 1 of the series, and while the director acknowledges that "We're kind of now focused a lot with the OGs from the beginning of the show," he adds, "But it doesn't mean necessarily that they're going to have one like-minded idea on how to continue and move on. Everyone's had a lot of separation and there's been a lot of difference of opinion based on things."
Lauren "Lo" Smith/AMC Colman Domingo on 'Fear the Walking Dead'
Speaking of people not being on the same page, Dwight (Austin Amelio) and Sherry (Christine Evangelista) broke up (yet again) in the mid-season finale, and while this time felt more permanent, and perhaps an ending point for the characters, it doesn't mean they have made like Morgan and said goodbye to the series. "It feels like it's the end of their story," notes Satrazemis. "But it doesn't mean we're not going to see them again. We might see them separately. We might see them together. They're realizing that they're in a perpetual circle, and it keeps ending really poorly being together. So they're making a decision right now to split and to move out. But that doesn't mean we won't see them again."
Most of all, producers hope to keep viewers guessing over these final six episodes. "You never know what you're going to see," promises Satrazemis. "You might see some new things, you might have some new obstacles, and it's kind of the way the show is. It's always reinventing itself."
And now, for the final time.
Make sure to check out EW's Fall TV Preview cover story on Gen V — as well as all of our 2023 Fall TV Preview content, releasing through Sept. 21.
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