When last we left Fear the Walking Dead, the main characters had fractured, the fates of two of them were left hanging, and Nick had decided to go live among the zombies, which was an unusual turn of events even for The Walking Dead universe. Some of the choices made during the midseason finale were baffling, to say the least. Over the course of the week, however, showrunner Dave Erickson has given a number of interviews that have sought to clear up some of these points of confusion. Among the questions he answered was were, who is really dead? Who is not? And what can we expect from the back half of the season?
On the fate of Daniel
The big question in the minds of many is whether Daniel — who torched Celia’s Baja estate — died in the fire of his own making. On the one hand, Madison told Ofelia that he was dead and we saw him stand among the flames. On the other hand, we never saw his body. Did he survive?
Probably, according to showrunner Dave Erickson, who told Yahoo that “we didn’t see Daniel burn for a reason. Daniel Salazar’s story is done for the season, but my hope is we will see him return in season three.” He added in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that “there’s another chapter to be told in [Daniel’s] story” but by separating Daniel from his daughter, Ofelia, it gives them an opportunity to better explore Ofelia’s character in the back half of the season.
Did Celia survive?
Another body we did not see was that of Celia. We neither saw her being devoured by zombies, nor among the zombies in the prison cell that Daniel torched. A Redditor even suggested there was an escape route for her to avoid the zombies.
Erickson did not specifically say whether Celia died, but he did say — after Madison left her in the prison cell with the zombies — that, “It became very unpleasant for her, right when we left the room.” In other words, yes, Celia is dead.
Why did Chris turn into a psychopath?
Many viewers found Chris’ character evolution from sullen teenager to psychopath a little inscrutable. What happened there? Erickson suggested in a two interviews that his transformation was rooted in his parents’ divorce. “I feel like all of the character trajectories really do start with who they were before the apocalypse began,” Erickson told Yahoo. “With Chris, he is a child of divorce.” He reiterated that on TVLine: “The thing with Chris is, you’ve got a kid who is a child of divorce, he has a lot of rage directed toward his dad, he’s very alienated and alone.”
Will we see Jack and Alex again?
At the end of episode five, Alicia and Travis left Jack and Alex behind after Madison rescued them from dread-pirate Conner. Will we see them again? Erickson implied that there could be a future between Jack and Alicia, and that Alex could also return down the line. “Of Connor’s group, there’s something interesting about Jack to me and his relationship with Alicia. Alex sort of vanished into the ether at the end of Episode 5, and I’m curious to know where she went.”
Some viewers also questioned whether Conner had survived after being bitten in the arm by his brother, Reed. We never saw his body, either, and in The Walking Dead universe, it’s possible to survive zombie bites if those infected extremities are chopped off. Erickson foreclosed that possibility. “No, he’s gone. If you’re bitten, that’s it,” he told TVLine.
What will happen with Nick?
Even more inscrutable than Chris’ transformation into a psychopath was Nick’s decision in the midseason finale to abandon his family to live with the zombies. Where is his character heading in the back half of the season? Erickson wasn’t clear, other than to say that he’d answer the question when the show returns, adding, “One of the things we’ll see and explore is… his connection to the dead, and trying to figure out how he’s going to function in this world.”
Will the family reunite?
Finally, by the end of the episode, Ofelia, Alicia, Madison and Strand had decided to return to the yacht; Travis had decided to leave the family to stay behind with Chris and help him gain his sanity back; and Nick had gone to live with the zombies. When will the family reunite? Erickson suggested to EW that it could take awhile.
The resolution is going to take some time, and bringing our family back together is going to be something we need to earn over time. But you essentially got three storylines — potentially four — where we scatter to the winds, and try to find a way to survive.
He also added that they will “try” to return to the yacht in the back half, “and we’ll see what has happened to our boat.” I think it’s safe to say that something happened to the boat, and that perhaps Fear has abandoned its seafaring ways. Expect the series to stay in Mexico for quite some time.
