Fear the Walking Dead might be substantially less popular than its older sibling The Walking Dead, but millions of people still tuned in last year to watch the nascent zombie apocalypse unfold in real time. Enough so that AMC signed the cast on for a third season, which begins airing on June 4, 2017. But with the premiere still weeks away, James Cameron may have just spoiled the fate of one of the main characters, despite publicists’ protests otherwise.
FearTWD star Cliff Curtis — who plays Travis Manawa on the show — has signed on for the Avatar franchise, according to Deadline. Curtis will take on the role of Tonowari, a Na’vi leader of the Metkayina Reef Clan people, in all of the upcoming sequels. The first Avatar film only hinted at the different tribes that inhabited Pandora, but with four more films in the pipeline, Cameron has plenty of latitude to expand the lore of his world. A lore that seems to have Cliff Curtis playing a key role.
What does this mean for Curtis’ future on Fear the Walking Dead? Deadline’s source assured them the Avatar production schedule would work around the actor’s prior commitment to AMC. Plus, the sequels don’t even begin filming in New Zealand until 2018. If FearTWD‘s ratings continue to slide, it might be a non-issue by the time Curtis has to show up for duty in his grey VFX pajamas. However, should he end up pulling double duty, we’ve all known for a while that Travis Manawa isn’t cut out to survive the zombie apocalypse. Sure, he made strides at the end of last season by beating those dudes to death, but even if Travis can admit things will never be the same again it seems likely he’ll eventually snap under the mental strain of the new world order. Out of all the surviving main cast, the demise of Travis would be the least surprising.