How One Upcoming Zombie Might Affect The Entire ‘The Walking Dead’ Universe

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“There will be one walker in particular, I have to be careful saying this around Scott. Let’s just say this walker will open a universe of possibilities for our storytelling.”

That quote comes from Ian Goldberg, the co-showrunner of Fear the Walking Dead, spoken at the AMC summit last week. And the “Scott” that Goldberg suggested he needed to be careful around was Scott Gimple, the architect of the entire The Walking Dead universe, hinting that this one walker, in particular, could open up a “universe of possibilities” for the entire The Walking Dead universe.

What could Ian Goldberg possible be alluding to? A Whisperer, perhaps? As we learned in the season finale of The Walking Dead, it appears that the Whisperers do leave the Virginia area during the winter. Could they travel as far as Texas? Perhaps, and there are a couple of hints in the fifth season Fear the Walking Dead trailer that suggest that possibility, particularly in the way that the Whisperers lock down an area of territory and use severed heads to mark their boundaries.

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AMC

I’m more intrigued, however, by the “Toxic Avenger” walker in the header photo, briefly glimpsed at in the season 5 trailer.

I’m not sure how a walker clearly affected by radiation of some sort could affect the entire The Walking Dead universe, but there are hints in the trailer that also suggest radiation could play a crucial role in this season, and that science experiments may be at play here, perhaps in an effort to find a cure. We know, for instance, that the Fear gang stumbles upon an area associated with radiation.

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We can also surmise that at least one character is engaged in the radiation area.

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I am going to speculate and suggest that the character in the hazmat suit is a scientist played by a new addition to Fear the Walking Dead, played by Karen David (Once Upon a Time), who is not otherwise in the trailer and whose character details are currently being kept under wraps.

I believe that scientist is also conducting experiments, and I believe that she is using birds to test her experiments.

AMC

AMC

What kind of experiments would a scientist be conducting in the zombie apocalypse? I can only think of two possibilities: Either she is searching for a cure, or she’s trying to use radiation as a means to neutralize the zombie threat. In either case, if the scientist stumbles upon something effective, it certainly could ripple into the entire rest of The Walking Dead universe.

We’ll know more when Fear the Walking Dead returns on June 2nd.

(Via The Insider)