Fear the Walking Dead Refresher: Nick and Alicia

"No one's gone until they're gone." Those are the last words that Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) imparted onto her children, Nick (Frank Dillane) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey). After the Vultures' assault on the Dell Diamond baseball stadium she hoped to turn into a thriving community, the Clark family matriarch made the ultimate sacrifice for her kids: Madison led a horde of infected into the overrun ballpark so the others could escape, locked herself inside, and seemingly died when the stadium was engulfed in flames. But no one's gone until they're gone. Madison survived... only to later be informed by Morgan Jones (Lennie James) that her children are gone gone.

"Nick got shot. Victor, Alicia, Luciana... we were all there when it happened. We buried him ourselves," Morgan told the mother who had "Nick" and "Alicia" tattooed on her wrists when she was a Collector for PADRE, which claimed it would reunite Madison with her own kids by having her separate children from their parents. She also learned that Alicia got bit by a walker and had to amputate her arm — but not before infection set in. "She fought it for months, longer than anybody I know," Morgan informed Madison. "But the last time I talked to her... she was close to the end."

That was seven years ago. Morgan didn't tell Madison who killed Nick, and it took Troy Otto (Daniel Sharman) coming back from the dead to tell her what happened to Alicia. Madison's mission now is "about keeping something bigger alive" by rebuilding PADRE "into what it should have always been, for them": for Nick and Alicia. The Clark kids may be gone, but showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss are keeping Fear a family affair for the final episodes. 

"From the beginning of the series, everything for Madison has been about her family. It has been the drive for her from the beginning. Even when we learned about her in her darkest hour, and the things that she did while she was under PADRE's thumb, even that was ultimately motivated by her children," Goldberg told ComicBook. "I think as we get into the final episodes of the series, Madison's in this place where she no longer has her own children and she's wrestling with how she can honor them by this family at PADRE. Both the kids that are left behind in the wake of Madison taking over PADRE, but also the family that she has built along the way with all the characters that we all love. It really is just extrapolating her motivation for her kids and her family and applying it to this new family that she's created."

Remind yourself what happened to Nick and Alicia with this Fear the Walking Dead recap:

How Did Nick Die in Fear the Walking Dead?

After Nick and Madison brought 11-year-old orphaned Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) into the stadium, it turned out the young girl was a spy for Mel (Kevin Zegers) and the Vultures: scavengers who would wait for other groups of survivors to succumb to starvation or abandon their camps before picking them clean. When the Vulture Ennis (Evan Gamble) led the zombie attack that caused the fall of the stadium and Madison's apparent death, her vengeful son tracked down his nemesis and — despite Morgan's attempt to impart his "all life is precious" philosophy and teach Nick the ways of The Art of Peace — Nick killed Ennis.

Ennis was then avenged by Charlie, who shot Nick in the chest in the season 4 episode "Good Out Here." Nick died surrounded by Alicia, Strand (Colman Domingo), and Luciana (Danay García), with a bullet in his chest and a bluebonnet in his hand. During a past supply run with Madison, his mother told him to look for a sign of "something good" while outside the stadium. "Told you there was still good out here," Madison reminded Nick while in a field of bluebonnets. Alicia, Strand, and Luciana — hardened after Madison and Nick's deaths — intended Nick's grave to be the same hole where they dug up a weapons cache to kill the Vultures, but Morgan suggested they bury Nick beneath a tree.

Is Alicia Dead on Fear the Walking Dead?

Alicia's own search for PADRE ended with her amputating her zombie-bitten arm and — after suffering from a fever that wouldn't break — she seemingly succumbed to infection and collapsed. We last saw Alicia alive on the shores of Galveston, Texas, when she woke up and walked off into the radiactive fallout around Strand's Tower to help other survivors looking for PADRE. Only Troy claims to know what happened during the next seven years: Troy told Madison that he killed Alicia and left her to roam as a walker. Troy then handed over the skeletal remains of Alicia's severed arm as proof of Alicia's death.  

"I took it off her corpse after I killed her," Troy taunted Madison. "I would've put her down, Madison. After all the wandering around I did in Mexico, I thought it was only right that Alicia should do the same. Maybe one day you'll find her. Or maybe she'll find you, or maybe not, and finish the job."

"Whether Troy is telling the truth is something that you're just going to have to watch the rest of the season to find out," Goldberg told ComicBook. Chambliss added: "We will definitely find out whether or not Troy's story is true, and what actually went down between Troy and Alicia."

Fear the Walking Dead next airs "Iron Tiger" October 29 on AMC. New episodes premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC and AMC+.

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