Alycia Debnam-Carey Addresses Kim Dickens’ Return to Fear TWD

Warning: this story contains spoilers for Sunday’s “Amina” episode of Fear TWD. Will daughter and mother meet again on Fear the Walking Dead? In the penultimate episode of Season 7, titled “Amina,” Alicia Clark (Alycia Debnam-Carey) recalled memories of late mom Madison (Kim Dickens), who seemingly sacrificed herself saving her children in Season 4. Having recovered from the fever she feared would turn her, Alicia made her own sacrifice when she walked into radioactive fallout to help people searching for the mythical PADRE. Debnam-Carey confirmed her exit from Fear after seven seasons in a post published on social media. 

Alicia’s last appearance came just before the reveal that the matriarch of the Clark clan somehow survived, living to fight another day — and cross paths with Morgan Jones (Lennie James) in “Gone.” Dickens guest stars in Sunday’s Season 7 finale and will return as a series regular in Season 8. 

In an interview with AMC.com published after Alicia’s Fear finale, Debnam-Carey revealed what might have happened had her character learned Madison was alive: 

“For Alicia to possibly know that her mother was alive this whole time, would be a groundbreaking, life-altering, axis-tilting moment that’s pretty massive. There’s probably a huge amount of joy that would come with that,” she said. “Then just overwhelming grief I think, too, for having mourned someone that’s actually been there, and also maybe mourning a life that could have been if they still were together.”

After spending seasons apart, Debnam-Carey continued, “I think there are a lot of really, really complicated emotions and feelings that would come with that reunion. It’s not quite so simple as ‘Oh my God, she’s alive. Yay!’ Because we’ve now seen Alicia grow into a person in this world on her own without family.”

Since the deaths of brother Nick (Frank Dillane), stepfather Travis (Cliff Curtis), and the apparent death of Madison, Alicia grew into a leader and “a woman that had to survive against all odds.”

“She’s a different person than she was when she lost Madison and when she lost Nick,” Debnam-Carey said. “It would be a lot of things to grapple with.” 

Fear the Walking Dead‘s Season 7 finale, “Gone,” premieres Sunday, June 5 on AMC. Follow @CameronBonomolo on Twitter & @NewsOfTheDead for TWD Universe coverage all season long.