As “Fear the Walking Dead” Season 1 came to an end, the blended families of Travis (Cliff Curtis), Madison (Kim Dickens) and Daniel (Ruben Blades) took refuge with the mysterious Victor Strand and planned to embark for safety on his yacht, The Abigail.
Strand (Colman Domingo) remains mostly a mysterious force, with mysterious motives, which naturally reminded fans of mothership show “The Walking Dead” of another character who is familiar to comic book fans and who finally made an appearance in the form of Jeffrey Dean Morgan on the recent “Walking Dead” Season 6 finale.
“Who am I? Am I Negan? I don’t know, am I?” Colman laughed. “I wasn’t completely schooled on the original show, but these archetypes are so strong. I remember people questioning whether I was the Negan character, and I asked, well what is that? And I was told he’s good with words, he’s got a sense of humor, he’s dark but he’s vicious. And I thought, oh, that’s interesting, but I’m not sure. I think it’s just interesting to see the characters shift through the season.”
Whoever he is, whether he’s a good guy or bad, Strand will come into conflict with the other characters as they continue to be stuck on a boat together.
“We have a tangle, we have a bit of a dance that we go through,” said Dickens of Strand and Madison’s interactions. “We’re two strong-willed characters and he’s offered us safe passage [on The Abigail], yet we offered him safe passage to his house. So there’s an obligation, without really sort of reconciling our views on how we morally adjust to these situations. It causes some conflict and difficult dilemmas.”
As the adults battle it out, the younger set of actors and characters are getting to fine-tune who they are, especially for the sheltered Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey).
“With Season 1, it was so short, it was six episodes, fast-paced, condensed, I remember by Episode 6 being like, oh we could easily do another 4,” Debnam-Carey recalled, who added that the longer season allowed the cast to get to know their characters better.
“They’re still pretty secretive about where we’re headed and what’s in store for us. But what’s great for me at least is that, for the first season, Alicia was sort of kept in the dark,” said Debnam-Carey. “She was a little more reactionary to the events around her. This season offers her a bit more initiative. It’s nice because we now have a very distinct group of people. This is our cast, this is our group on the boat, so we get to focus on these characters one on one.”
Alicia’s brother Nick (Frank Dillane) went through a huge arc in Season 1, but is still discovering who he is after kicking a heroin addiction and embracing his more heroic side.
“If he’s heroic, it’s always by accident,” Dillane said. “I think he thrives on intuition, mostly. I don’t know if hero’s the right word. He’s got good morality, he’s a good judge of what’s good and bad. Whether it’s consciously or unconsciously, he seems to always be able to do the right thing.”
And while Nick and Alicia always seem to have each other’s back, they are not immune from having to choose sides this season.
“I think a lot of this season is finding the alliances between the characters, who can trust who,” said Debnam-Carey. “Who agrees with what? What’s the morally right thing to do, what’s the practical things to do?”
“Fear the Walking Dead” premieres Sunday, April 10 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.