How Madison Can Return In Fear The Walking Dead (Despite Her Death)

Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) is returning to Fear the Walking Dead, despite her death in a previous season. On the Talking Dead episode that followed the FTWD midseason finale, it was announced that Madison would be back on the show. According to AMC, Dickens will be a series regular again for Fear the Walking Dead season 8.

When the series killed her off in season 4, showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg confirmed Madison’s offscreen fate in various interviews. That being said, their positions have since changed, with both appearing to be open to the possibility of Madison somehow returning to the fold. Talk of a potential return has fueled interest in Madison making a comeback. Her continued popularity has generated all sorts of theories. As the story has progressed over the years, most have been disproven and though hope has lingered, Madison has remained absent from the show. However, it’s now known that Fear the Walking Dead really is bringing her back. What’s not clear though, is how it will work.

How Fear the Walking Dead season 4 framed her final scene didn’t leave much room for survival. The flames at the stadium fire were quickly closing on Madison, so death did seem assured. But, it’s important to note that her body was never shown. In other words, though Madison living through the incident felt unlikely, it’s not something that can’t be undone. It’s at least possible that before she could be consumed by the fire, she found a way to climb over one of the walls and get to safety. Somehow, she could have gotten out of there without Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey), Strand (Colman Domingo), or the others knowing about it.

Arguably the greatest challenge with delivering Madison’s return to Fear the Walking Dead won’t be explaining her survival – it’ll be making sense of why she hasn’t reached out to her daughter sooner. Madison being alive means that she’s gone more than two years without reuniting with Alicia and Strand. Because of the radio and Al’s tapes, it’s hard to imagine that Madison simply couldn’t find Morgan’s group. If she’s been looking for Alicia, she should have been able to track them down at some point before season 7.

Instead, it may be that Madison either made a conscious decision not to go looking for her family, or hasn’t been in a position to look. Regardless, Fear the Walking Dead has so many questions to answer when Madison finally returns, which could happen as early as the back half of season 7. If so, it could link her to one (or both) of the season’s biggest stories, which are the war with Strand and the search for PADRE. Looking for PADRE could culminate in a reunion with Madison at the end of the season. Or, a grand entrance from Madison could be what saves Strand from himself, given that the two previously shared such a deep bond.

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