'Fear' Touches On 'The Walking Dead' Sickness

The Walking Dead fans were confused when Father Gabriel became sick in Season Eight after covering [...]

The Walking Dead fans were confused when Father Gabriel became sick in Season Eight after covering himself in walker guts. However, as it turns out, medical experts identified the walker guts to run the risk of sickness other than a complete turn into a walker, as was revealed on Sunday's episode of Fear the Walking Dead.

Spoilers for Sunday's Episode 4x05 of Fear the Walking Dead follow!

Late in the episode, Jenna Elfman's character who had been going by Laura (a name assigned to her earlier in the episode) got frustrated with Garret Dillahunt's John Dorie because he did not shoot a dangerous walker. Such a choice allowed the walker to get close enough that its blood was plastered all over them after his frustrating was taken out on its head.

While the two characters wiped walker blood from themselves, Laura revealed that the guts and blood are enough to make people "really sick just from being exposes to this stuff" despite John claiming he had not been bitten or scratched. Laura, a former nurse, may have been erring on the side of caution as most medical personnel would with such a dangerous disease. However, given that she has in fact seen people become sick due to the walker guts, the sudden sickness which came over Seth Gilliam's Father Gabriel can be explained.

In Season Eight of The Walking Dead, Father Gabriel covered himself in walker guts as many characters have in the past, including Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan who did so at the same time. While Negan (and Rick Grimes, Glenn Rhee, and Nick Clark before him) did not come down with any sickness, the germ was exposed to Gabriel in a manner which made him sick. In fact, it might all tie back to The Walking Dead's third season which saw a handful of characters getting sick in the prison, some of whom perished.

The reveal coming in Episode 4x05 of Fear the Walking Dead is no coincidence. As former The Walking Dead showrunner Scott Gimple is now over-seeing both shows and known The Walking Dead director Michael Satrazemis helmed the episode of Fear.

Ultimately, the same sickness prompted by walker guts has taken a good portion of Father Gabriel's vision, so John might want to be more careful going forward.

Luckily for John, Laura, and Father Gabriel, this disease did not claim any of them entirely. However, fans of The Walking Dead might want to start tuning into Fear the Walking Dead as subtle moments and lines of dialogue are clearly connected to the flagship series.

The Walking Dead will return for its ninth season in the fall. Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info all year long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.

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