‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Bosses on Latest Victim

After spending most of the apocalypse holed up in his brewery, inexperienced survivor Jim (Aaron [...]

After spending most of the apocalypse holed up in his brewery, inexperienced survivor Jim (Aaron Stanford) found himself begrudgingly under the leadership of Morgan (Lennie James) — who was unable to prevent the beermaker from falling victim to an incurable walker's bite.

"Jim was a character who has not been out in the world before, and we're kind of seeing his first efforts at trying to survive on his own. For us, it felt like the guy who had actually been the recipient of help and who really wasn't very grateful for any of that help that he received almost getting his comeuppance in a way where he's calling Morgan out this whole time on making the wrong call," showrunner Andrew Chambliss told EW.

"But if Jim really looked at the facts, he's alive because Morgan made the right call before."

Morgan first rescued a hooded and helpless Jim in 411, 'The Code,' when the rookie survivor was moments away from being devoured by walkers.

In Sunday's Fear The Walking Dead, having just barely survived a heavy firepower assault from the Filthy Woman (Tonya Pinkins), Jim followed Morgan — unexperienced in the way of being a leader responsible for others' lives — to an Austin hospital, where the group found themselves swarmed and trapped by a horde of walkers.

It was there Jim dispatched his first walker while Morgan fought off a pair of his own, but the fight left Jim with a gnarly bite wound to his midsection — making a feverish death imminent and unavoidable.

"The idea we were trying to show is that what matters is that you try. If it were up to Jim, he would still be sitting back in his brewery, by himself, brewing beer for no one. And he's kind of paying the price for that in this moment," Chambliss said.

"He wasn't out in the world trying to survive, he didn't learn how to survive, he wasn't helping people, he wasn't making connections. It's all of those things coming together that put him in a place where he does get bit."

The moment will have "big ramifications" on an always-guilty Morgan, who "does feel responsible," Chambliss added.

"He's found himself in this place where everyone's looking at him as the de facto leader of the group, and he doesn't feel comfortable with that. He just got to a place where he feels okay being around people, and all of a sudden he has the responsibility of their lives on his shoulder. That's hard enough, and now the fact that one of the first big decisions he made led them to a place where someone's now at death's door is not going to be something that sits well with him."

James said Morgan — who might soon meet his own end — views Jim's fate as falling squarely on Morgan's already-heavy shoulders.

"When Morgan discovers Jim has been bitten, I think it's two things: I think he's genuinely brokenhearted for Jim, but also one of his fears has become reality, that it's his fault. That if it wasn't for him, listening to the angel or the devil on his shoulder who said, 'Go into the hospital, what could go wrong?' If it wasn't for that, Jim would be okay," James said on Talking Dead.

"And I think Morgan pretty much thinks this is what happens if people follow him, if people listen to him, if he takes responsibility for other people, this is what happens. It's the inevitable consequence of listening to Morgan. And Jim is a living example of that. And I think he's brokenhearted in two directions, one, towards what's happened to Jim, and also two, because it's proof to him that he should be on his own."

With the pack of survivors trapped and having no apparent way out, Morgan will attempt to make a sacrifice play and act as a distraction — but could Jim, who is already marked for death, redeem his crotchety ways and ultimately make the sacrificial move?

The brewer, who was on the verge of riches before the world went to hell, had hoped to find purpose in Alexandria, Virginia, and make his beer. But with that future ripped away, "next week I think you'll see exactly how this weighs on Jim, and he might do some things that will surprise you," showrunner Ian Goldberg said of Sunday's penultimate episode of Season Four.

Fear The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.

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