Aisha Tyler's Fear TWD Role Is Unlike Any Seen Before in The Walking Dead Universe

When Fear the Walking Dead director Aisha Tyler steps out from behind the camera as a new cast member of Season 7, the actor plays an under-wraps character unlike any seen before in the Walking Dead Universe. The Archer and Criminal Minds star joins the new season of The Walking Dead spin-off as Mickey, who pops up and returns gunfire in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance in the Season 7 trailer. A survivor of the nuclear zombie apocalypse brought about by the twisted Teddy Maddox (John Glover) to end Season 6, Mickey makes her debut when Morgan Jones actor Lennie James steps back behind the camera on the Season 7 episode "Till Death." 

"I was trying to figure out what I can say about my character, and it's essentially nothing," Tyler said with a laugh during a Fear TWD virtual panel at PaleyFest NY 2021. "What I will say is I love this show, and this whole Walking Dead world, so to come back in front of the camera was a real treat. I got an email from [Fear showrunners] Ian [Goldberg] and Andrew [Chambliss], and they were like, 'Do you want to come and do the show this season?'" 

RELATED: How to Watch the Fear TWD Season 7 Premiere Now

Tyler, who has appeared five times as a guest on The Walking Dead and Fear after-show Talking Dead since 2011, directed the June (Jenna Elfman) and John Dorie Sr. (Keith Carradine) centric Season 6 episode "J.D." The actor and Whose Line Is It Anyway? host was nearly forced to pass on a role in Fear because of a full schedule — but then she read the script. 

"I'm like, 'I'm canceling everything for all of 2021 to play this character,'" said Tyler. "Because she's literally, it's like they had read my eighth-grade diary. Every single thing I dreamed of being an adult was in this character."

The role remains under wraps, but Mickey allows Tyler to play "a really extraordinary character in a world that is going to be very different from everything that people have experienced watching Fear so far."

"I think we can say that... she takes part in what may be one of my favorite and most fun walker setpieces that we've done, and actually shot by Lennie James," teased Chambliss, showrunner with Goldberg since Season 4. "I watched that probably 30 times."

Added Scott Gimple, the famously secretive Fear executive producer and Walking Dead Universe chief content officer, Tyler's role of Mickey takes "such an unusual angle." 

"You couldn't look at this character and say, 'Oh, yeah, we've seen that before.' We have not. It's crazy," Gimple said. "I will say…it is heartfelt. Aisha does such a good job with her, and I can't wait for people to see it. I remember reading it and talking to the guys about it, and as it evolved, as [Tyler] came aboard, it just got better and better. It's so cool." 

Fear TWD Season 7 and other virtual panels out of PaleyFest NY 2021, including new seasons of HBO Max's Succession and CBS /Paramount+'s SEAL Team, are available on The Paley Center for Media's YouTube channel.  

The Season 7 premiere of Fear the Walking Dead, "The Beacon," is streaming now on AMC+ and airs October 17 on AMC. Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for all things TWD and stay tuned to ComicBook for coverage all season long.