Fear the Walking Dead Sparks Speculation About Madison Clark’s Return in “Mother”

Is Fear the Walking Dead hinting at the mother of all reunions? Recently revealed spoiler synopses for the final four episodes of Season 6 have sparked speculation that Alicia Clark (Alycia Debnam-Carey) will reunite with her mother, Madison Clark (Kim Dickens), in an upcoming episode titled “Mother.” Madison seemingly died in the mid-season finale of Season 4, “No One’s Gone,” when she ignited a fiery blaze at the baseball stadium Alicia nearly revisited earlier in the season. This imagery was recreated when Alicia set fire to an underground community in “The Holding,” which ended with Alicia captured by cult leader and self-described “mama’s boy” Teddy (John Glover).

Reads the synopsis for “Mother,” airing May 23, “While held prisoner by Teddy, Alicia reunites with old friends and must confront her past.” Commenters on social media are now speculating that a reunion and a reckoning with the past means the return of Madison, who may have survived her sacrifice at the stadium.

“The Holding” references Madison when Riley (Nick Stahl) prompts Alicia to study a walker covered in leaves, reminding her of the stadium and how her mother “gave her life so we could live.” Madison is mentioned a second time when Alicia sacrifices herself to destroy The Holding by fire, and Teddy tells her she’s “following in the footsteps of [her] mother.”

Teddy goes on to say he wants to “save” Alicia, telling her, “I’ve been looking for someone like you for a long, long time.” What this means will be revealed in “Mother,” but it appears Teddy wants Alicia’s help launching the nuclear weapons aboard the USS Pennsylvania.

“I think he sees something special in Alicia, something that he hasn’t found in anyone else yet,” showrunner Ian Goldberg told EW. “And we learn at least part of that is what she talked about in her interviews early in the episode with Riley and her relationship to her mother and her mother’s sacrifice. And also seeing her do something similar by the end of this episode that she put herself in harm’s way so that the rest of her friends could escape.”

“And Teddy says, ‘I’m a mama’s boy myself.’ And that is something we will explore later,” Goldberg teased. “There’s definitely more to mine there, but I think there’s a kinship that he feels with Alicia. Granted, they’re very different types of characters with very different agendas, but he has a very specific role in mind for her in his twisted view of how he’s going to bring about the end. And the question is, is Alicia going to go along with that?”

Goldberg and showrunner Andrew Chambliss previously walked back comments about Madison’s death earlier in Season 6, just before Fear filmed just minutes away from the Dell Diamond baseball stadium — a location not visited since Season 4. When Insider asked Goldberg and Chambliss to confirm Madison’s death, the showrunners paused before Chambliss said Madison’s return is “definitely something we talk about.”

Asked point-blank to confirm whether Madison is dead, Goldberg said: “Well… we never saw her body. And Madison herself said, ‘No one’s gone until they’re gone.’”

Here’s how Fear fans are speculating about “Mother,” premiering May 23 on AMC:

Madison Lives?

Reunion

No One’s Gone

Until They’re Gone

Oh Mother

Clarks Comeback