‘Worry TWD’ Stars Kim Dickens and Colman Domingo Discuss Character Endings & Collection Finale

[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Fear The Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 12, “The Road Ahead.”]

The Worry The Strolling Lifeless collection finale has come and gone, and all through all the story arcs, a number of actors on the present had their very own theories of how their characters and the present at giant would wrap up.

When referring to the collection finale, Kim Dickens mentioned she’s a lot happier together with her character’s second ending, which noticed the once-thought-dead Madison Clark reunite together with her once-thought-dead daughter, Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey). “The Dell Diamond sacrifice was a shock to me, and I wasn’t—I wasn’t that comfortable to depart at that second,” she remembers. “I additionally thought Madison would’ve frickin’ climbed or gotten out of there someway!” Fortunately, because it turned out, Madison had gotten out of there someway—and Dickens had the possibility to present her character a extra hopeful and becoming conclusion. “I had a dialog earlier than I got here again with Ian and Andrew, and so they laid out their artistic plan and concepts for me, and I used to be excited,” Dickens defined. “I used to be grateful that they’d provide you with such an intricate plan. I used to be enthusiastic about all of it alongside, and I used to be very proud of it.”

Colman Domingo, too, was proud of Strand’s happiness, particularly contemplating he thought his character wouldn’t dwell to see Season 3. “A personality with an ethical compass that’s that askew, he can’t probably survive,” Domingo remembers considering within the present’s early days. “However that’s precisely what helped him survive so many seasons; he might change, or shift, or develop into one thing new and adapt.” As Season 8 approached, Domingo recollects assembly with showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg to debate Strand’s story, and Domingo felt that Strand ought to be taught to dwell. “I feel his journey was to search out love once more and to search out peace, and understanding now put all of these items collectively.”

Jenna Elfman is just relieved her character has put all of the trauma of surprising deaths, nuclear wastelands, and dictator-led towers behind her as she drives off to her late husband, John Dorie’s (Garret Dillahunt) cabin. “For June, it’s a must go join again to the supply of what healed her within the first place in the course of the apocalypse, which was John Dorie, and simply to go be,” Elfman mentioned. “To reorient herself and reground herself, and getting to do this with Dove could be very significant since she doesn’t have her daughter. I feel it’s going to be a time of therapeutic, and he or she intends to heal and catch her breath.”

In fact, regardless of the present’s behind-the-scenes modifications, there’s no getting away from the ethical grayness of Madison Clark: it is a girl who bashed a person’s head in with a hammer in Season 3, after which in Season 8, she (unintentionally, however nonetheless) despatched a toddler to her loss of life, and who unceremoniously fatally stabbed a person who’d made the flip from villain to anti-hero. It’s no shock, then, that each Dickens and Domingo thought their group of characters would possibly find yourself as villains. “I feel initially, earlier than [Season 4], that’s the place I received the sensation it was going—towards Madison being the villain, and we have been kind of internally speculating,” Dickens mentioned.

Seth F. Johnson/AMC

In his interview, Domingo agreed. He acknowledged that whereas lots of Erickson’s unique concepts have been nebulous, he believed a villainous flip was the plan, as was an examination of who was the nice man and the dangerous man. “The joke was, ‘ what’s humorous? We go from place to put, from encampment to encampment, and we finally burn it down. We appear to come back in, and abruptly there’s a variety of issues. We take over issues and shift issues, and that’s alright—however possibly we’re the villains, really.’ I feel that that was the lens that’d swing round, and also you’d discover out that we have been not the heroes of the story.” Dickens even urged the present would possibly’ve taken a darkish flip, with Madison and Nick destined to wind up in an eventual climactic face-off. “I feel we have been speculating again then, and I believed it was going to be a Shakespearean kind of factor. Is the son going to kill the mom? Is the mom going to kill the son?”

Whether or not heroes or villains, Domingo was thrilled to share the set once more for the ultimate season with Dickens. “Oh, are you kidding me? That’s my greatest buddy!” he exclaimed when requested about Dickens re-joining the solid. “She’s really my greatest buddy, and I feel what we’ve constructed [between Madison and Strand], I actually don’t know if it was written at first. I feel it was our chemistry; I feel it’s all of the subtlety and the nuances of the way in which we performed it. That relationship grew, and the writers wrote towards it.” Domingo elaborated that lots of the Worry solid have grown shut over time, particularly mentioning Frank Dillane, Karen David, Lennie James, and Alycia Debnam-Carey.

Debnam-Carey’s triumphant return will possible be the spotlight of the ultimate episode for many followers, and in line with Domingo, the specifics of it have been the topic of a lot dialogue behind the scenes. Finally, he and the artistic group determined to not have Alicia reunite with Strand regardless of the familial love between them. “There have been many variations of the final episode, and by the point we received to the ultimate model, I mentioned, ‘There’s nothing to say. We’ve mentioned all of it,’ Domingo mentioned of Alicia and Strand. “We really did say goodbye, and I really did say ‘I like you,’ and he or she mentioned, ‘I like you, too.’ I didn’t wish to gild the lily.”

Seth F. Johnson/AMC

After reveals finish, stars typically hold mementos. Dickens has Madison’s iconic jacket, sledgehammer, and boots. Domingo saved items of Strand’s costumes, even a lock of hair from Season 8. Elfman holds June’s bracelet and necklace however hunts for her boots.

“I actually needed my boots, however they have been drenched,” she lamented. “I used to be leaving early the subsequent morning, and I didn’t even know transport them as a result of it was going to be completely disgusting. I actually needed them as a result of I really did put on the identical pair of sneakers from Day One. I wore these boots the entire time, the complete collection.”

As regards to costumes, Domingo agrees that of the Worry characters, Strand was all the time essentially the most fashionable—and he has fond reminiscences of his character’s outfit in Season 7. “Villain Strand is superior, and me and our costume designer, Zureta Schulz, we went ham on that one. We’re like, ‘Oh, no, if he’s getting the whole lot from museums, he’s received to have raided these museums and have put all of that on. He’s carrying historical past. He’s making himself the long-lasting model of himself that he’s all the time needed to be on this world.’” Domingo chuckles as he recollects the specifics of that look and its attract. “I believed he seemed his hottest and sexiest in Season 7. , as a result of villains need to look attractive! That’s the rule. For those who’re a villain, you need to be attractive.”

Worry The Strolling Lifeless, Season 1-8, Streaming Now, AMC+