Fear the Walking Dead Star Lennie James Addresses Morgan’s Fate

The Walking Dead turned Fear the Walking Dead star Lennie James says audiences will have to “watch and see” to find out if James’ Morgan survived the spinoff’s Season 5 finale, which ended with Morgan facing down a pack of walkers after being shot and left for dead by Virginia (Colby Minifie). Left weak and defenseless from his gunshot wound, there seemed to be no apparent escape for Morgan, who radioed a message to his freshly separated convoy of do-gooders urging the survivors to “just live.” Because Morgan’s death was not confirmed on the memorial segment of aftershow Talking Dead, there are suspicions Morgan could be spared by a last-minute rescue — but a tight-lipped James says you’ll have to stay tuned to find out.

“I had a telephone call, and I knew where Morgan was heading and what the outcome would be. It wasn’t something that took me by surprise, it was something I was prepared for,” James told Metro. “[Showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg] made a point of preparing me for it.”

Asked directly about Morgan’s fate, James said, “You’re going to have to watch and see, I’m afraid!”

James previously explained TWD chief content officer and former showrunner Scott Gimple approached him with a pitch to join Fear as part of the first-ever crossover between the two series. James first learned of plans for Morgan during a preliminary conversation with Gimple ahead of TWD Season 8, part of a customary process where the showrunner or showrunners lay out plans for a character’s season-long arc.

“What tended to happen on Walking Dead when Scott was running it, and I think it’s continued to be the same with Angela [Kang], at the beginning of the season they give you a sense of what’s happening over the season as a whole, and what’s happening with your character and usually it’s in that initial meeting you find out if your character makes it all the way to the end,” James said. “When we were having the discussions about maybe moving over to Fear, that happened maybe four weeks into what turned out to be my final season on Walking Dead. You have an idea, no one’s picking up the script or finding out what happens to their character while reading it.”

It’s not yet known if James will next appear in Fear Season 6, now in development, or if he might transition into the Walking Dead movies, where he would reunite with Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes. Fear returns to AMC with its sixth season in 2020.

New episodes of The Walking Dead Season 10 premiere Sundays at 9/8c on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.