Fear the Walking Dead wrapped its second season on Sunday with a mixed finale that had some things that worked, and some that did not. What it did do well, however, was what shows in The Walking Dead universe always seem to do well: Tease future possibilities.
Showrunner Dave Erickson spoke with both TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly after the finale, and in both interviews, he gave Fear fans a glimpse into the season three, which the writing staff has already begun working on with an eye toward shooting in December.
Here’s what to expect:
Nick and Luciano
In the final sequence of the second-season finale, we see Nick and Luciana being shot at by a militia group on the border between the United States and Mexico. According to Erickson, the militia group is not part of the military. So it won’t be a rehash of season one, but season three will be about control of the border. “The goal and the intention of Season 3 is that it’s our border season,” Erickson told TV Guide. The storyline, however, is not designed to be political.
“We started to lay out this story well before the presidential campaign heated up and it seems like what’s going on in the world is definitely conflating with what we’re playing on the screen. I think that ultimately any film or show in the sci-fi or horror genre, there’s always going to be some echoes or some reflections of what’s going on. The intent is not to polemicize or politicize the show, but when you’re dealing with a border story — and we will be dealing with elements on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border — I think that things will come up and resonate. It’s unavoidable.”
Viewers should not, however, get too attached to the idea that Fear will set up next season in the refugee camp. There is a very good chance we’ll visit that place,” Erickson told EW. “We may not stay there very long.”
Ofelia
Last we saw Ofelia, a new character played by Dayton Callie was holding a gun to her face and welcoming her to America. Callie’s character, as it turns out, has a connection to the militia group shooting at Nick and Luciana. “There is some connective tissue between him and the militia group that confronts us at the border crossing,” Erickson told TV Guide. That connection will ultimately bring Nick and Ofelia together. “There’s a world in which those two lines are going to come together when we get to season 3.”
Victor Strand
Victor, who has been something of a non-factor in the series since Thomas Abigail died, will return to his old form next season. “We’ll see more of the old Strand. We’ll see more that old con artist coming through,” Erickson told EW. “It’s someone who’s going to establish what the currency for the apocalypse is and how you survive.” Strand may become the Rick or The Governor of the hotel. Don’t expect the hotel to disappear from the show anytime soon, either. When filming begins in December, it will begin there, and it could be a home base for the characters once they all reunite.
Madison and Travis
Last we saw Travis, he had beaten to death the two men responsible for his son’s murder. The softer, gentler “moral compass” of the show will continue to evolve in season three. “He’s broken,” Erickson told EW. “He will be fully apocalyptic now.” What that means, exactly, remains to be seen, but Erickson also suggested that Madison will be even more “cold” and “calculated” going ahead, so Travis and Madison may make a formidable team, although perhaps not a humane one. With Strand potentially taking over the hotel and Travis and Madison becoming more ruthless and pragmatic, the theory that the main Fear characters could become the series’ villains is beginning to make a lot of sense.
The fact that the “golden child,” Alicia, also took a human life may play with Madison’s emotions, as well. “That’s in some respects a failure for Madison that it came to that, and thats’s going to be part of the emotional and tonal weight of the show moving forward.”
Should We Expect a Happy Reunion?
No. And this statement from Dave Erickson in the TV Guide interview is season three’s most intriguing tease:
I think there are two interesting elements [in the reunion]. One is how we pull it off, and the other is how has everybody changed. I wouldn’t bet on a happy family reunion. There will be elements we’ll introduce as Season 3 plays out that are going to make that reunion a lot more complicated and potentially violent than any of the characters would like. That to me is the most important part.
A violent reunion? Is it possible that the changes to the characters will somehow turn this dysfunctional family into enemies in season three?
We’ll have to wait and see. Viewers should also not forget that there’s still one possibility left hanging. Daniel, last seen standing in a room full of flames, may not be dead. “Daniel is still in the world, and it’s important that the characters think he’s gone, but there’s always a chance that he might reemerge,” Erickson told EW.
