Former ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Star No Longer Recognizes the Show

Michael Greyeyes, who played Qaletaqa Walker in Season Three of Fear The Walking Dead, was “shocked” to learn longtime lead Kim Dickens was no longer with the show and says the semi-rebooted new season isn’t the Fear he recognizes.

“Before I worked on the show, I was a big fan of it and especially Kim,” Greyeyes wrote on Twitter when asked about Dickens’ exit. “When I heard she had left the show, I was shocked. Sadly, with all the other departure[s] as well, I’ve lost the sense of it being the show I had first loved.”

Greyeyes’ co-star Lisandra Tena, who played Gonzalez Dam leader Lola, expressed similar thoughts last month when she agreed with a fan account that said Season Four is “a completely different show” and the original spinoff, under the lead of Dickens’ Madison Clark, “died.”

Season Three ended with Qaletaqa and Crazy Dog (Justin Rain) venturing north after providing cover for Nick (Frank Dillane), who destroyed the Gonzalez Dam with an explosion that seemingly wiped out short-lived gang leader Proctor John (Ray McKinnon) and his crew. Madison and daughter Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) were swallowed by the ensuing destruction, resulting in Madison emerging as the apparent sole survivor of the devastation.

In Season Four, John and the Proctors go unmentioned and the outcome of the Dam explosion was resolved through expositional dialogue when viewers learned Madison rescued a half-dead Victor Strand (Colman Domingo) and reunited with her missing children, later establishing the small Dell Diamond baseball stadium before its destruction one year later.

Scott Gimple, then-showrunner on The Walking Dead, was promoted to Chief Content Officer for all things Dead on AMC, taking on an executive producer and creative role on Fear. After fleshing out Morgan (Lennie James) across several seasons on the flagship series, Gimple approached James with the idea to send Morgan to Fear — effectively making Morgan the new lead once the mid-season finale revealed Madison died at the stadium.

In explaining and defending the decision to kill Madison, new Season Four showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg told THR killing Madison meant exploring the “thematic idea and emotion” the producers mapped out for the new season: taking characters from hopelessness back towards hope.

“Madison is the ultimate embodiment of hope. She’s someone who is selfless,” Goldberg said, explaining the left-behind Alicia, Strand, and Luciana (Danay García) would then have to work towards “rediscovering that hope, and how to carry it forward in a world that finds a lot of ways to test people who are hopeful and optimistic.”

This past half-season also brought the death of Dillane’s fan-favorite Nick, who was shot and killed by 11-year-old Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) after Dillane requested to depart the show in favor of returning home overseas.

Among the missing is Daniel Salazar (Rubén Blades), who also fell victim to the Gonzalez Dam explosion but whose exact fate remains unknown. The show has since hinted at Daniel’s return, after Chambliss confirmed he is “alive and out there” and that there is a “very good” chance he’ll reappear “in the Walking Dead universe.”

The revamped show has since added new fan-favorite gunslinger John Dorie (Garret Dillahunt) to its ranks, alongside series regulars June (Jenna Elfman) and Al (Maggie Grace). In recent weeks, Fear expanded its numbers again with the additions of comedy-inclined trucker grifter duo Wendell (Daryl Mitchell) and Sarah (Mo Collins), along with newbie survivor Jim (Aaron Stanford).

Fear The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.