The third season of Fear the Walking Dead kicks off on Sunday, and showrunner Dave Erickson is teasing the return of a certain character who was left for dead. There are a actually number of characters on Fear the Walking Dead over the course of the first two seasons who have simply disappeared from the series. Many of those characters could theoretically return at any time.
For instance, Andrew Adams (Shawn Hatosy) was beaten by Travis in the first season finale, but we never saw him die.
Or it could be Alex, who starred in the “Flight 462” web series, appearing later in two episodes of Fear. She was left in a pirate dockyard in the fifth episode of the second season.
Or it could be Seth and Harry, left behind on their private island to fend for themselves after Travis’ group abandoned them with their zombified mother.
The character most fans of Fear the Walking Dead want to see return, however, is Tobias (Lincoln A. Castellanos), who seemed to know more than everyone else in the opening episodes. He knew the zombie outbreak was coming before Madison. He was preparing by carrying a knife to school and scavenging for canned food in the cafeteria. At the end of the second episode, however, Madison dropped Tobias off at his home after he declined protection from Madison and we never saw Tobias again.
In the two years since Tobias disappeared from the show, Castellanos has occasionally teased his potential return on Twitter while continuing to promote the series. As far as we know, however, he’s still not set to return to Fear the Walking Dead. We don’t know if he ever will.
We now do know, however, that Daniel Salazar (Rubén Blades) will be returning. As viewers may recall, when last we saw Salazar, he was standing amidst flames in a wine cellar and presumed dead by his daughter, Ofelia.
As Erickson expains, however, Daniel didn’t die in that cellar:
We’ve said publicly that he didn’t die in the fire. And I think what was always important is that the characters, specifically Ofelia (Mercedes Mason), thought they had lost him. I think his return is long overdue, and I can promise that Daniel Salazar will rise again over the course of the season.’
Salazar’s return should come as a welcome relief for Ofelia, but it may represent another point of contention with fans, who remain frustrated with the show’s inability to kill off major characters, as is common in the parent series. With the return of Daniel, that means that only two major characters (Lisa and Chris) from the series have died, while the fate of a number of minor characters still remains unknown.
Fear the Walking Dead returns on Sunday night for a 16-episode run, after which Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (Once Upon a Time) will take over showrunning duties from Erickson for the fourth season. Perhaps the new showrunners will be more quick to turn over the cast.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
