Is PADRE a place — or a person? Alicia Clark’s (Alycia Debnam-Carey) search for PADRE ended with her being bit by zombified Senator Elias Vazquez (Jared Gibson), a walker Alicia thought might lead her to the only supposed safehaven in a nuclear wasteland. After a feverish Alicia told Morgan (Lennie James) that she vividly dreamed of a voice telling her to follow the walker to PADRE, a place she no longer believes exists, Alicia decided she would become PADRE. With a working transmitter, she’ll reach people looking for a safe place to live. “That’s how we get our army,” said Alicia, plotting to take the Tower from Victor Strand (Colman Domingo).
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In an exclusive scene from Sunday’s Fear the Walking Dead, titled “The Raft,” Dark Horses Dwight (Austin Amelio) and Sherry (Christine Evangelista) meet Maya (Candice Michele Barley). The mystery woman has reached land by boat after sailing through the fallout to find her missing son.
Led by a broadcast she heard inviting people to join the Tower, Maya thinks it’s where she’ll find her son, Marco. “Trust me, you don’t want to go there,” Sherry warns. Adds Dwight, “There’s bad blood between us and the man in charge.”
That bad blood caused Alicia to declare war against Strand, deciding to take his Tower and make PADRE real for the people looking for it. Alicia learned of PADRE when Teddy (John Glover) locked her in a bunker beneath The Franklin Hotel, where classified documents belonging to the late Senator Vazquez referenced P.A.D.R.E. as a government contingency plan.
As the war heats up with casualties on both sides heading into the final episodes of Season 7, Alicia leads an army to decide what the Fear family will look like in Season 8.
“I think both Strand and Morgan realize that the future of this family ultimately is in Alicia’s hands, that she is the future leader of this family,” James told ComicBook about the Alicia versus Strand war of Season 7B. “She will take the family into the next generation. And I think that the battle between Morgan and Strand is legacy, really. It’s them saying, ‘It’s you and you must take it on in this way.’”
James continued, “And both of these men are aware of the influence and love that Alicia has for them and that they have for Alicia. And it’s about how they take responsibility for that and what that means for everybody in the future.”
“The Raft” is now streaming on AMC+ and airs Sunday, May 15, at 9 PM/8c on AMC. Follow @CameronBonomolo on Twitter & @NewsOfTheDead for TWD Universe coverage all season long.