Kim Dickens Reacts To Shocking Fear The Walking Dead Death

Major spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead‘s Season 3 premiere follow.

With the arrival of its third season, Fear the Walking Dead promised to shake up the landscape of its series. However, no one could have predicted the shocking moment it had in store for fans just five minutes into the second half of its Season 3 premiere.

As Travis, Alicia, and their new militia buddies flew in their helicopter to Broke Jaw Ranch, a slew of bullets came flying through their cockpit. One or more of those bullets struck Travis, with one wounding his neck, prompting him to ask for help before launching himself out the door of the helicopter while it was in flight.

The death will undoubtedly have a major impact on the series and the characters living within it but none more than Madison Clark, the girlfriend of Travis who avidly survived with him and her kids, only to find out he would never make to Broke Jaw Ranch.

ComicBook.com caught up with Fear the Walking Dead‘s Madison actress Kim Dickens to hear her perspective on the devastating and shocking loss in an exclusive interview.

Madison’s Reaction

Dickens has been closely working with Curtis from the earliest days of Fear the Walking Dead. Saying “goodbye” was a shock for the actress who calls the events of the Season 3 premiere “awful.”

“The whole cast, the family, I mean, all of us,” Dickens said. “I mean, but that’s the nature of these jobs, the nature of any job, but certainly the nature of this genre. Everyone is at risk, that’s the way it is.”

“Our hearts just hung on that relationship, I think is, is a devastating blow and it makes for incredible storytelling of how people live through that as well with any apocalypse. How you live through the loss of your love. And, I mean, for the cast, it’s been hard to lose our friend and comrade. You know Cliff was like, that’s what happens. We all know that.”

While Curtis might not be around on set, the off-set friendship remains among the cast members.

“We all think about it. Send each other pictures,” Dickens said. “Like, ‘This is us talking about you today!’ and send him a picture and he’s like, ‘This is me and this is what I’m doing today.’ But you know, aside just the friends working together and the family we created. For the character, Madison, I try to always do every scene since then, I try to make sure I’ve been there, because you just move on and there’s so much to do for these characters moment to moment that I try to always make sure that there is sort of a palpable thing that lives in her still is that loss.”

Cast Goodbyes

As Dickens mentioned, sudden sendoffs are not uncommon in the Walking Dead world. While the cast were saddened by the loss of Curtis, they were not necessarily surprised.

Prior to Curtis’ last days on set, the cast held a little get together to celebrate his time with the AMC series.

“We all got together,” Dickens said. “The four of us, a few days before he shot it, we had dinner together. It’s actually the first night we got back in town because we all knew what was going to transpire. So we all spent time the first night together. And it’s really, it’s just the four of us that first night that came in, so that was a really special moment. And I have seen him since in LA. So, we’ll be in touch. I’ll see him for press and all that.”

More Walking Dead

MORE WALKING DEAD: Fear the Walking Dead Season 3 Review / Alycia Debnam-Carey Surprised By Walking Dead Fanbases / Andrew Lincoln Surprises Chandler Riggs’ Grad Party / Michael Rooker Almost Stabbed Someone On Set / TWD’s Five Worst Characters / New Photo Of Johnny Depp’s Dead Head Prop / Negan’s Backstory Reveals Completely Different Character

Fear the Walking Dead returns airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on AMC. The Walking Dead will return for its eighth season in October of 2017. The first trailer is expected to arrive at San Diego Comic Con in July. For complete coverage and insider info all off-season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.