‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Star Was “Heartbroken” and “Devastated” Over Being Killed Off

Fear The Walking Dead leading lady Kim Dickens admits she was “heartbroken” and “devastated” to learn Madison Clark would be killed off in the season 4 mid-season finale.

“It’s so sad, it’s been sad. Madison has been an incredible character to play,” Dickens told Chris Hardwick on live after show Talking Dead.

“I felt like I worked my whole career to get to this point, to get to play her, and it’s been such an honor. And I think she’s just like — she’s this special character that has pushed through perimeters of female leads in a genre piece and she’s complex, she’s flawed, she’s good, she’s bad, she’s a mother, she’s not in her twenties or thirties, it’s unique. And I think it was such an honor to play it.”

Dickens said the decision to kill Madison was handed down by newly minted season 4 showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg and a producer, likely former The Walking Dead showrunner Scott Gimple, who was elevated to chief content officer of the entire Walking Dead brand for AMC ahead of season 4.

“I found out – I spoke to the new showrunners and the producer before going into production this season, and they told me that’s where they saw the story going this season, and I was heartbroken, I was devastated,” Dickens said.

“From there I went into production and we all sort of knew and sort of gave it our best, gave it our heart.”

Of Madison Clark, the longtime de facto leader of a pack that since season 1 included children Nick (Frank Dillane) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and ally Victor Strand (Colman Domingo), Dickens reiterated the strength of her character.

“For those reasons, I really feel strongly about that,” she said.

“I think when you start, when you inform your show from that place, from that lead, this is a complicated woman with a dark past who has a very strong, good instinct – she’s a mother. I think when you start your story, you inform your story from there, it just turns things on their head a little bit. It spins you out with the stories you can tell. It’s a bummer.”

Fear The Walking Dead returns with the second half of season 4 later this summer on AMC.