A Fear the Walking Dead clip may spoil a shocking death from the show’s final season. A full trailer for Fear the Walking Dead season 8 has yet to be released, but AMC has shown off a clip that previews Madison’s next story and her conflict with PADRE. As season 7’s ending made clear, FTWD’s final chapter will hinge on the battle with PADRE, the mysterious organization that took Morgan and Grace’s adopted daughter.
PADRE, who is shaping up to be the final adversary for Morgan’s group to overcome in the Walking Dead universe, is responsible for the long-awaited return of Madison Clark. In the Fear the Walking Dead season 7 finale, Kim Dickens’ character finally returned to the fold as a pawn of PADRE, who has been using her to abduct children in the years she’s been gone from the show. Now, she’s back and in a position to serve as an ally to Morgan Jones and the others as they fight PADRE in FTWD’s remaining 12 episodes. However, there’s already been a hint that she won’t survive what comes next.
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Is That A Zombie Bite On Madison’s Arm?!
The aforementioned clip from the Fear the Walking Dead season 8 premiere curiously drew attention to an injury on Madison’s arm. While the nature of the mark hasn’t been revealed, it looks suspiciously like a zombie bite. Of course, there’s no context to go along with the scene, so it’s always possible that FTWD is being intentionally misleading in this instance. But, by highlighting the injury, Fear the Walking Dead seems to be insinuating that Madison will get bitten by a zombie at some point in season 8.
Such a reveal would explain Madison’s behavior in the clip. After getting the jump on one of her captors, Madison attempted to kill herself, but failed due to the gun not being loaded. What stands out about this is the fact that Kim Dickens’ Madison didn’t try to use the gun to facilitate an escape. Madison knowing that she’s going to die anyway would help make sense of her actions.
PADRE May Be Delaying The Zombie Virus
Another interesting detail about the clip is the moment where one of Madison’s captors uses a syringe to inject an unspecified fluid into the wound. What this scene might be illustrating is an effort by PADRE to delay the infection process. It could be that whatever is in the syringe is designed to slow down the virus, thus preventing Madison from dying in a matter of hours. This sort of state may be what Alicia believed was happening to her in Fear the Walking Dead season 7, but in the end, it was determined that despite her prolonged sickness, she was not infected at all.
This turning out to be the case would then beg the question: why didn’t anyone cut off Madison’s arm? Cutting off the arm seems more effective than injecting a mysterious form of medicine into the wound on a regular basis. As for what their reason could be, it may be that PADRE’s interest in keeping Madison alive is motivated by their scientific ventures. If they think they’ve developed a serum that could delay the infection, it stands to reason that they’d need a living test subject with a zombie bite. They could be keeping her locked up so that they can administer this serum daily and monitor its effects.
Madison’s Death May Not Be What It Seems
While Fear the Walking Dead is certainly suggesting that Madison is in dire straits, this “bite” may not be what it seems. Madison is clearly drugged in the clip, which could serve as an alternative explanation for this moment. If Madison’s thoughts are being clouded by drugs in her system, she could be hallucinating. That would be a massive misdirect, but it wouldn’t be the first time Fear the Walking Dead has used hallucinations and dreams to advance a story.
Plus, Madison’s death feels like a development that would be too important to be spoiled by a clip released before the season even premieres. It’s hard to imagine Fear the Walking Dead giving away a massive plot detail, not to mention how shocking it would be for Fear the Walking Dead to kill Madison. The show faced considerable backlash for killing off Madison, but soldiered on and allowed Morgan to take her place as the lead character. Years later, the showrunners walked back their decision and reversed Madison’s death in season 4’s midseason finale. It’s hard to say if the show would be willing to make this controversial choice a second time.
Madison’s Bite Can Make Her FTWD Season 4 “Death” Matter
Conversely, this scene may be a sign that Fear the Walking Dead really does intend to kill off Madison, perhaps by the end of the season. If so, it may lay the groundwork for it by diving back into her past. Since Madison is currently with Morgan, chances are this scene is a flashback design to fill in some of the gaps in her story. The show touched on what she’s been up to since season 4, but there’s still room for more exposition. One detail it could reveal is that Madison was secretly bitten by a zombie during the fire at the stadium. Under normal circumstances, she’d be dead for years if this happened, but regular injections from PADRE’s serum may have enabled her to persevere.
If that’s the reveal the bite tease is leading up to, Fear the Walking Dead will have an opportunity to pay off her original ending. Season 7’s finale took the punch out of Madison’s death by revealing that she didn’t really die, but the show can rectify by that confirming that Madison in fact was given a death sentence by that fight. By heading in this direction, the show can avoid completely undoing her ultimate sacrifice. As it stands, it looks like the show put Madison in a position where there was no realistic way of getting out of alive, only to pull her out of it anyway. But if it turns out that she was bitten, Fear the Walking Dead can ensure that her “death” did have consequences.
Fear the Walking Dead can assign true meaning to Madison’s sacrifice (and bring her back at the same time) if it reveals that the show hasn’t done anything more than give her more time. With a fight with PADRE on the horizon, Madison could very easily lose her access to the serum. If that happens, the series can end with Madison’s death serving as one of the show’s final moments.