Fear the Walking Dead Star on Kim Dickens Return: “Chances Are That Won’t Happen”

Fear the Walking Dead star Lennie James would "love" to act opposite former series lead Kim Dickens, but "chances are that won't happen."

"I would love [her to come back], to be absolutely honest," James told Digital Spy. "I think everybody would."

Asked about persistent suspicions and online theories Dickens' Madison Clark actually survived her apparent Season 4 death, James said, "I've heard that fan theory, I can't really comment on it, but one of the regrets I have is that I didn't get to do any scenes with Kim before she left. So if she came back and I could do scenes with her that would be absolutely lovely."

"But the chances are that won't happen. But what do I know? Anything can happen in our planet and in this world, but me saying I would love to work with Kim is not me surreptitiously saying that it's going to happen," James added. "The truth is she's an actress that I greatly admire and would love to work with."

James boarded the Walking Dead spinoff to kick off its retooled fourth season under new showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg and executive producer Scott Gimple.

Dickens learned of Madison's fate roughly one month before entering production on Season 4. "Obviously it was shocking to me and it was disappointing," she later admitted to EW. "It was heartbreaking."

When installing James' tenured Walking Dead character as lead on the spinoff, Chambliss and Goldberg said Madison was killed off to examine the "thematic idea and emotion" behind the overarching theme of Season 4, which was "taking people from hopelessness toward that hope" inspired by Dell Diamond founder Madison and her sacrifice.

"Madison is the ultimate embodiment of hope. She's someone who is selfless," Goldberg told THR in 2018. "We see that not only she fights to protect her own family, but also to bring in people from the outside world who can help themselves into the shelter of the stadium. She's heroic in that way."

Madison's Season 4 altruism has since propelled the actions of daughter Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and friend Victor Strand (Colman Domingo), who with Daniel Salazar (Rubén Blades) are the last-surviving characters from the series' first season. Under Morgan's charge, the pack of survivors now travel through the west helping strangers in need — often at great risk to themselves.

Dickens in March said she doesn't expect Fear to ever revisit Madison.

New episodes of Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 premiere Sundays at 9/8c on AMC. Follow the author @cameronbonomolo on Twitter.