Fear The Walking Dead Cast Tease Season Two Characters And Threats

It’s Sunday and, now, that means Fear the Walking Dead is on tonight.

The Walking Dead companion (and prequel of sorts) series returns us to the world of the undead apocalypse on the west coast.

In its first season, a six-episode run in 2015, we met the blended family lead by Travis Manawa and Madison Clark. In addition to the many threatening and brutal obstacles the family was presented with by the world around them falling apart, they also found themselves have internal struggles.

Madison’s son, Nick, dealt with a drug addiction. Her daughter, Alicia, lost her boyfriend. Travis had to kill his ex-wife out of mercy with their son, Chris, close enough to hear the gunshot.

Then, there’s the Salazar family and late-to-the-party newcomer Victor Strand. Ophelia Salazar lost her mother and learned secrets about her blunt and intense father as time passed. And, to conclude the season, everyone met Victor Strand who is shrouded with mystery. The character lead everyone to his extravagant beach house and equally impressive yacht, where they would set sail in an attempt to escape the end of the world.

Unlike The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead doesn’t have any comic books or other source material we can pull from to get a picture of what’s ahead. For now, we have to speculate based on previews and what cast members say. Luckily for us, the cast members are saying a lot, and over the weekend, ComicBook.com had the chance to speak with several.

Here’s what they have to say about the upcoming threats and themes of Fear the Walking Dead‘s second season!

Colman Domingo, who plays Victor Strand:

It is a truly and honestly, it is truly harrowing seafaring adventure. Every single episode. It’s also deeply emotional. Because, once again, we are dealing with characters, who at the very beginning, of these challenges, within the human race, to kill others. You’re not even quite sure whether or not they’re just sick or infected, or what is that? What is a zombie? Like they have no idea what they are. All they know is, that was my neighbor, or that was my wife or husband and they must put them out. Because that’s no way they want them to live. So I think they are going to examine the beginning of this emotional trauma, that is happening with all of the characters.

I think we are. We’re definitely on the Abigail for a while. We may make a few stops. Once again, we are trying to discover a whole new world. And we don’t even know what they, you know, it’s these people who are like, I guess, you know, for a lack of a better term, they are sort of shipwrecked in the world. You know, you don’t know where to- What is the new north? There is no true north anymore. So, they’re just doing what they can to survive. So that will take us on the boat, that will take us to the mountains, that will take us on land, that will take us, you never know, they may take us on a plane, but they are going to do what they can to survive, to try to find a new world.

Alycia Debnam-Carey, who plays Alicia Clark:

She’s not feeling too great. Not only has she lost her boyfriend, but she’s also lost her neighbor who was kind of also her nanny of sorts, and a family friend. She’s lost her dad in the past, and it all feels like a version of history repeating and people leaving in her life. Her brother’s also come and gone throughout her life, so she’s had a lot of time to develop a thick skin, and try and rely on herself most of the time. She’s become kind of the golden child because she’s just had to be her own rock. These are all very fresh wounds, and going into the apocalypse, which has amplified the situation completely. She’s really, I guess, trying to find some sort of connection and support network in this new world, which isn’t totally finding in the small confines of the boat.

Well, I guess there’s a lot of threat from other boats at sea. Coveting bigger boats, and supplies and goods from other ships has become a threat that I don’t think anyone expected. As much as there is a war on land there is this war at sea between people to try and survive. It’s dubious in the way that they’re going to be dealing with both land and sea, and I don’t think really one is easier than the other. Of course there are zombies in the ocean, but they’re not quite walking. They’re more wading, of sorts. They can’t swim, but they can certainly do their thing from the ocean. They still worry about things like water, and fuel. There’s that classic line of, “Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink,” and they’re surround by that. Simple things just become a big problem as much as they do on land.

Lorenzo James Henrie, Fear‘s Chris Manawa:

I think with the loss of his mom, starting off season two, it places him in a really tragic and dark head-space and psychology. I think any kid that loses his mother, he’s going to be wounded so heavily. It’s so hard and traumatic and difficult to process what’s going on. Opening season two, it puts Chris in a very dark place.

Chris – he’s this kid that’s trying to find himself at the dinner table. I think that is his theme throughout these first five episodes is where does he sit at the dinner table, and how does he process everything that’s going on in the zombie apocalypse. He’s going to look for things to heal. He’s going to look for things to … Kids that go through normal problems, they go to video games or they go to working out or they go to taking the stress off. I think that Chris is looking for that healing thing to take the stress off, to try to cope with reality. You’re going to see that definitely in this journey of season two.

I think the audience should be prepared for the unknown. Don’t be surprised if things that are crazy happen. Things are going to happen that are unexpected. They’re obviously looking for refuge. They’re looking for safety. They’re looking for protection. But also, Travis and Madison, they’re very skeptical. They still really don’t even trust Strand or know who he is. Even Salazar. They just … Travis, Madison, and Salazar just sort of met. Everyone is looking out for each other in that family. You get the sense of blood versus bond theme throughout season two, looking for refuge.

Dillane:

I think he does alright without drugs. So far so good anyway. I think that the goal does change in terms of what, when his addiction. Nick’s journey, I hope, is not one about heroin. I think the reason that Nick is a heroin addict is it is a device in order to show someone who already lived outside of society. I think the idea is that Nick’s heroin or Nick’s addiction gets channeled into something else and he becomes addicted to adrenaline or something like that, that kind of thing. In so far as heroin, there’s no heroin in the water, but there’s a shitload of adrenaline. Mainline that. Mainline some adrenaline, nevermind heroin.

Zombies can float apparently, which is a threat. They get all bloated and stink around. I think the threats will be much the same that they always have been. That the dead are back on their feet and milling around looking for blood. I think that’s the main threat. Then also, obviously, that brings into play other human beings.

I think that being stuck on a boat raises different sorts of questions.

Mason:

Well, I mean, Ophelia’s … Nothing else has changed so dramatically. When you first meet her, she’s naïve, she’s sheltered, she’s … For crying out loud, she comes out in a little baby doll dress. She’s couldn’t have been more sheltered. She’s like a child, almost, in her own way. And then when she loses her mother, I think that really forces her to grow up a bit and see the world differently and how cruel the world can be especially after she finds out who her father really is. And, she doesn’t quite understand. She’s never had to survive a war, a civil war where, you know, kill or be killed. So, she thinks her father’s an absolute monster. She doesn’t have her mom to rely on or to provide her strength or comfort. So, she’s sort of floating amongst these strangers when the world’s falling apart. She literally couldn’t be in a worse place, but she is her father’s daughter, and I think ultimately she’ll start understanding little by little that she has strength in her, and that if she doesn’t utilize that, she’ll crumble. So, I think, ultimately, she’ll come around to understanding her father’s choices a little bit better as time goes on. But, right now, when we meet her, episode one, season two, she’s livid. She has no idea who she is. She’s got to find herself all over again because everything she’s known is a lie.

Well, that’s the beauty of it. We, for the first time, are on water, so that immediately … You can’t just, if you feel threatened, fight or flight. You don’t just get up and run. There’s water everywhere. You’re forced into this cabin fever-esque dead calm on this boat with strangers who all have their own personalities. They all have their own pain. Then on top of that, we’re on a luxury yacht with food and water and resources that everybody’s going to want. So, you can imagine. We’re like a beacon of hope in the dark night where everyone who sees that boat is going to want to take it from us. I think our biggest threat is going to be what is in the water because we all know zombies can’t swim, but they certainly don’t die in the water. They can wade, so they’re definitely around. Their presence is known. Then of course, other people, and I think that’s even scarier because it’s so much more psychological when somebody … You imagine when the world’s falling apart, you want to preserve life, but people want to survive and take care of their own, so they’re going to want to take what we have. I think that’s, to me, scarier than this monster coming to eat or kill or whatever because we know what to expect from them. We don’t know what to expect from people.

Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 PM ET on AMC.