In the second season of Fear the Walking Dead, AMC’s zombie — sorry, “infected” — prequel series, the action moved south to Mexico. But as season 3 begins, the show will focus heavily on the U.S.-Mexico border and the power dynamics that go along with it — even during the apocalypse.
As showrunner Dave Erickson told Rotten Tomatoes during a visit to the series’ remote Mexico set, the new episodes will see the familiar FTWD characters as they explore their new world.
“Here’s one of the things that I think is fundamental to any apocalyptic narrative in The Walking Dead and Fear as well,” Erickson said. “How morally compromised will you become? What are you willing to do?”
Ahead of the June 4 premiere, catch up with where Madison, Travis, Alicia, Nick, and the rest of the gang were as season 2 wrapped, and where they’re headed when season 3 begins.
Nick Clark
(Frank Dillane)
In the final moments of the season, Nick and his girlfriend, Luciana, were captured by an armed group near the U.S.–Mexico border. When FTWD returns, Madison will be on a quest to find her son — who has changed greatly since the infection first broke out.
“He grows. He matures as a man,” Dickens revealed.
Said Erickson, “As far as his sense of invulnerability that he had last season, I think he’s been knocked around enough since … He wants to be stronger, he wants to be more of a leader, and he wants to be a man. I think he’s had an awakening.”
Travis Manawa
(Cliff Curtis)
Struck with grief after the death of his son, Travis committed the ultimate Fear the Walking Dead sin — killing a fellow survivor — and was forced into exile.
“I think Travis, when we meet him again, is in a much darker, apocalyptic place,” Erickson revealed. “It’s not easy to rebound from that.”
He’ll feel as though he failed Chris and will do anything to try to make things right.
“I think ultimately that will tie into Nick and the search for Nick and the hope of possibly saving him,” Erickson added. “In doing so, he might find a way to feel some redemption — or some sense of at least he’s balanced the scales a bit.”
Madison Clark
(Kim Dickens)
At the end of season 2, Madison (with her husband and daughter in tow) fled the Mexican hotel where her family had taken refuge. In season 3, she’ll come into her own, as well as continue her quest to find her former–drug addict son.
“We’ve danced around her back story for some time, and we’ll get a better picture of … what happened to her when she was younger,” showrunner Dave Erickson said of Madison’s arc this year. “What is Madison when she’s not just mom?”
Alicia Clark
(Alycia Debnam-Carey)
Alicia, too, killed a survivor after a group attacked Travis for what he did in the wake of Chris’ death.
“That’s changed her so dramatically,” Debnam-Carey said, adding, “She has lost a lot of her innocence, and she’s now thinking of herself as a murderer, basically. [She’ll] grapple with some pretty devastating stuff, and she has to do it on her own.”
Said Erickson: “I think we’ll see in the first couple of episodes [that] she’s trying to process what she did, and she’s trying to find some rationalization. She’s going to be harder. She’s going to be stronger.”
Ofelia Salazar
(Mercedes Mason)
After escaping a group of infected, Ofelia made her way back to the U.S. border — only to be held at gunpoint by a strange man.
“I think one of the questions people will be asking starting in episode 2, when we see [the man],” Erickson revealed, “is What the hell happened to Ofelia? Is she locked in the basement? Is she dead?”
Luciana Galvez
(Danay García)
She and Nick led the La Colonia survivors to safety as they traveled toward the U.S. border, but was captured with Nick just after they crossed over. She’ll be with Nick when the series returns — but where are they, and who are their captors?
