‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Adds ‘Once Upon a Time’ Star as Series Regular

Former Once Upon a Time star Karen David has joined Fear the Walking Dead Season Five as a series regular, Deadline reports.

Details remain tightly under wraps, but David is said to play a survivor named “Grace.”

The actress, who also starred in ABC’s Galavant and appeared in Barry and Criminal Minds, previously played Princess Jasmine in the fairy tale-inspired adventure fantasy crossover.

David reunites with Once Upon a Time writer-producers Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss, who took over Fear the Walking Dead as joint showrunners in its revamped fourth season last spring.

Goldberg and Chambliss continue on in that role under Walking Dead chief content officer Scott Gimple, who took on an executive producer role when bringing Morgan Jones (Lennie James) to the spinoff as part of the first-ever crossover between the two shows.

Morgan has since emerged as series lead on Fear following the controversial death of former leading lady Madison Clark (Kim Dickens), a decision Goldberg and Chambliss later defended by explaining Madison’s death propelled the remainder of Season Four and, in turn, Season Five moving forward.

Also joining Fear this upcoming season is former Walking Dead star Austin Amelio, whose Dwight was exiled by Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) in the closing moments of the mothership series’ Season Eight finale.

David and Amelio join an ensemble that includes longtime series stars Alycia Debnam-Carey, Colman Domingo, and Danay García, alongside Season Four newcomers Garret Dillahunt, Jenna Elfman, Maggie Grace, Mo Collins, and Daryl Mitchell. Alexa Nisenson, who joined last season as Charlie, has since been promoted to series regular.

Rubén Blades, who plays the long-missing Daniel Salazar, previously confirmed he had participated in filming for the fifth season.

Season Five follows Morgan and company as they continue a goodwill mission inspired in part by the late Madison, guided by the cache of tapes collected by video documentarian Althea. Operating out of the base once belonging to trucker Polar Bear (Stephen Henderson), Morgan and crew will seek out and attempt to help strangers in need instead of returning to the Virginian settlements Morgan once called home.

“I think we get a little bit of a taste of what they’re doing at the very end when we see that convoy go out looking for people. That very much is going to be what their mission is going forward,” Goldberg previously told EW.

“It was very important for us that it wasn’t just Morgan’s idea, that the whole entire group was invested in it. And that’s why we did have that moment where Alicia said they need to keep Madison’s philosophy alive and where Al talked about finding people on the tapes. Even where Luciana invoked Polar Bear when she convinced Sarah and Wendell that they should be a part of this.”

Goldberg added the mission would be interrupted by both the living and the dead, as the survivors face conflict when trying to serve as do-gooders in a rotted world.

“It was really about bringing all of our characters’ journeys over the course of the season together and making the synthesis of that into the mission going forward. You know, that being said, while the group sets out at the end of this episode bright tailed and bushy eyed, filled with hope, thinking they’re going to help people, what we want to explore in season 5 is just how difficult that might be in this world,” Goldberg said.

“Because of external obstacles, but also because of internal obstacles. These are characters who still have a lot of work to do on themselves. We’ve seen everyone change a lot over this season, but that doesn’t mean that they’re past all the trauma that they’ve been through.”

Fear the Walking Dead Season Five arrives this summer on AMC.