(Fear The Walking Dead spoilers from seasons past will be found below.)
Alicia Clark’s zombie bite on Fear The Walking Dead turned into a surprisingly long-winded affair. She didn’t straight-up die from the bite, as most people eventually do, but she grew unmistakably ill and suffered fevers, etc. When she got contaminated blood all over her, that similarly caused anguish, given that Alycia Debnam-Carey was a huge draw for viewers. In the end, however, Alicia’s fate was left ambiguous when she decided to stay behind on the beach after all that PADRE build-up. Presumably, the actress left the show (after a good, and perhaps exhausting, seven-season run) to pursue other projects like The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart and Saint X.
However, the AMC spinoff’s most recent trailer (for Season 8B) confirmed that the show was bringing back several characters for last hurrah/full circle returns before the show ends. This includes Victor Strand, which should be well-received because Colman Domingo is far too watchable, even if I’m not quite sure that Madison should trust him, despite the fact that they go way back in a mostly good way. Additionally, we will surprisingly see a not-dead Troy, whose motives appear to be clearly evil. As well, the trailer showed Madison inquiring about the whereabouts of her daughter, so could Alicia actually make a return, too
Hmm. It was heavily suggested that Alicia had expected to finally succumb to death but did not. Additionally, the show recently went in heavy on radiation’s possible effect on walker bites, and that had led June to form a hypothesis that Alicia’s experiences could be linked to a cure. That idea, of course, went off the rails with June being forced by Shrike into conducting ghastly experiments, and all of this could be have been some clumsy foreshadowing pointing towards a future Alicia appearance, or perhaps not. Maybe she will simply show up for a reunion with mom.
Given that Madison obviously cannot reunite with Nick again, I suspect that FTWD viewers would be thrilled to see her reunite with her other child, who happens to be one of the show’s most enduringly popular characters. Madison went through an awful lot with PADRE to get to that point, too, although heck, maybe Madison will be un-rewarded for what she did to help PADRE. Yet I think Madison still retains enough goodwill that people will want to see her happy in an embrace with Alicia.
Here’s the Season 8B synopsis:
Now that Shrike (Maya Eshet) and her influence are gone, Madison (Dickens) sets sights on transforming PADRE into the safe haven the old Stadium was meant to be. But in doing so the island becomes a target as well as a beacon as word of Madison and this land of resources spreads, attracting unwanted attention that puts PADRE back in peril and questions whether our heroes even deserve to save it.
Fear The Walking Episodes returns for its last batch of episodes beginning on October 22.