Fear the Walking Dead Bosses Tease Madison Clark's Return in Season 7
There will be an "evolution and a redefinition of Madison Clark" when Kim Dickens is back on Fear the Walking Dead, say showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg. After co-star Colman Domingo mediated Dickens' return to the series that unexpectedly axed her character in Season 4, Dickens announced her Madison Clark comeback live on Talking Dead in December. Dickens will first appear as a guest star later in Season 7, returning with new part two episodes April 17 on AMC, before being reinstated as a full-time series regular in a renewed Season 8.
"Without giving too much away, she's in a very different place than when we left her in the middle of season 4 at the stadium. And Madison has been on quite a journey since then, as have all of our characters. And we're just really excited," Goldberg told EW. "Kim, I know, has spoken in interviews about this being Madison 2.0, and it really is. It is an evolution and a redefinition of Madison Clark, and it's going to be fantastic."
Goldberg continued, "And we're excited to reintroduce her to both fans and into the world of Fear as she kind of interacts with characters we haven't seen her interact with before."
Dickens described her role as "Madison 2.0" on Talking Dead when confirming the mother of Nick (Frank Dillane) and Alicia Clark (Alycia Debnam-Carey) escaped the flames that engulfed the Dell Diamond baseball stadium in Season 4, surviving both the blaze and a walker horde.
"She is going to be returning in a way that will impact the end of season 7 and have huge ripples going into season 8," Chambliss teased. "But that's not to say when we see her this season that it will be in a small role. It'll be in a very big, impactful way."
The trailer for the half-season showed Madison inside an interrogation room with "Nick" and "Alicia" tattoos on her wrists. She takes a hit from an oxygen mask as a garbled voice asks over a speaker, "What's your name?" When she answers "Madison," the voice responds, "Not anymore. We will tell you who you are going to be from now on."
It's unknown if Madison is in the grips of the Civic Republic Military — the helicopter people that abducted Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) over on The Walking Dead — or another new group entirely.
Asked if Fear will show or tell what happened to Madison between Seasons 4 and 7, Goldberg said, "We're not taking anything off the table between flashbacks and talking about it in the present. There's obviously a lot of story to tell there, and we have a lot of ideas for how we're going to tell it. So maybe a little from column A, a little from column B."
Fear the Walking Dead Season 7 returns Sunday, April 17, at 9:00 p.m. ET/8c on AMC and AMC+. The first two episodes of Season 7B will be available to stream that same night exclusively on AMC+, with subsequent episodes streaming one week early beginning Sunday, April 24.
Follow @CameronBonomolo on Twitter and @NewsOfTheDead for TWD Universe coverage all season long.