‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Season 2 Finale Postmortem: EP Dave Erickson Talks the Big Death, Travis’s Breakdown, and Previews Season 3
Warning: This interview contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale episodes of Fear the Walking Dead.
Aaaaand, that’s a wrap. The second season of Fear the Walking Dead ended with the death of one of the series’ original characters, the end of the colonia where Nick found temporary refuge, a total meltdown for Travis, Strand being separated from the rest of the group, and the introduction of a new place and set of foes that sets up what the beginning of Season 3 will bring for the Clarks and Manawas. Well, just the one Manawa now…
FTWD showrunner Dave Erickson talked to Yahoo TV about the impact of Chris’s death on Travis, why Strand decided to go solo, that ridiculously gross, but cool, thumbs-in-the-eyes kill by Nick, the Sons of Anarchy reunion that you might have missed, and what that final setting and those gun-blazing, uniformed newbies will mean — and not mean — for Season 3.
We see Chris’s death from the point of view of his killers relating it to Travis, not a direct action point of view, so is there any hope that Chris isn’t really dead?
No, Chris is dead, unfortunately. We had a lot of conversations about the circumstances of his death and how to depict it, and it was, I think, important ultimately that he died not off-camera, but that his death was filtered through someone else’s view. Because it was really about, at the end of the day, the impact he was going to have on Travis. I think that Travis’s failure, if you can call it that, is twofold. One, he didn’t make good on his promise to Liza to protect his son at the end of day, and two, he did not do that because ultimately, he was still trying at the very end to hold on to the moral fabric of his own character — trying to fix and cure his kid. Lorenzo [James Henrie] did a wonderful job in both seasons. I think it was a tough character to play. I know there was a lot of feedback on social media about Chris. I think that he really stayed true to what a confused young man Chris was.
But it was really important that we, by the end of the season, put Travis in a place where his ultimate breakdown, and his turn to wrath and rage, felt earned. I know we played a similar beat to that in the finale of Season 1. This was really supposed to be that writ large. It was supposed to be bringing Travis to a place where he’s fundamentally changed. He’s consumed by the apocalypse, and I think part of his journey as we move forward, it’ll be a much more violent turn. I think [he will also make] an attempt to find some redemption for his failure with his own son. I think there is a surrogate son out there somewhere who he might be able to reconnect with at some point.
Travis’s journey has been tragic. His breakdown, the violence against Derek and Brandon was hard to watch, but also heartbreaking for what it means for Travis. He has become the person that he desperately was trying not to become and that Chris had sort of warned him he was going to have to become to survive.
I think that was one of the important turns in episode 13. Chris really schooled Travis for the first time. It was like Chris had found some kind of rhythm, and some kid of peace with the Americans, as nefarious and ugly as they were. I think the things he said to Travis at the end were true, and they might be, for most people who are schooled in The Walking Dead and the zombie apocalypse, obvious, but I think they had to be said to Travis. He had to understand that the world is what it is, because that’s part of what he’s going to take moving forward. I think he’s been broken down because of the loss, but he’s also going to remember the things Chris said to him. He’s going to realize to some degree, morality has no place. I think he’ll still be very much a fierce defender, and protector of Alicia and Madison and the group that’s still important to him, but his methods of defending are going to be vastly different.
Chris was able to see a lot of things more clearly than Travis. Why wasn’t he able to see how dangerous Derek and Brandon were?
I think largely because Chris, if you go back to the pilot, and the backstory that preceded it, was someone who was disaffected. He was alienated. He was already a kid who had a lot of anger and a lot of resentment. I think the death of his mother really amplified that, and his attempt to grasp what was going on, his attempt to just find some way to mourn and some form of catharsis, it led to him doing some very ugly things. To put it simply, it was a story about a kid who was trying to find a place. Ultimately, and sadly, he found a place, or some semblance of it, with a group of very, very violent American travelers who were just trying to get back to the States.
It was the first time, I think probably in a number of years, where Chris found people who acknowledged him not as some freak, but saw him as someone who had value. It was coupled by the fact that he knew very well that Travis’s intention was not to spend the rest of his life with his son, taking care of him. His intention was to try to find a fix, and then return him to Madison, and return him to all these people who didn’t much care for Chris at the end. Chris realized that Travis was much better off with Madison and company, and that he was much better off with this group that was trying to get back to the States, back to some version of home.
Why does Strand decide to stay at the hotel? He had told Maddie and Alicia earlier that he wasn’t willing to die for them, but it seems like choosing to stay behind is pretty dangerous. Then again, Strand is always a charmer. Is that what he’s going to rely on?
We should assume that when Strand told Madison he would be okay, that he meant it. What we’ll discover when we come back in Season 3 is that he did have a plan. He’d already started to think a few steps ahead. It’s a couple of things: One, he’s recovering from his knife wounds, so he’s not terribly interested in hitting the road again when there’s water and food at the hotel. Two, it’s really about finding a way that he can manage to stay there without being thrown out by Elena and Hector and company.
We went through the back half of the season, after the loss of Thomas, with a guy who was mourning. I think what we’ve learned in the first half of the season was that Strand was somebody who does have compassion. There was at least one man that he loved. Now having lost that, I think he went through a period, a number of episodes, where he was trying to process that grief, and then he got stabbed. What we’re going to see is a Strand, moving into Season 3, who is going to return to himself. We’re going to see a Strand who has a plan, and that con artistry is going to return.
Congratulations on yet another amazingly unique, memorable, and gross death. Nick and the thumbs-through-the-eyes zombie kill was a nice bookend with Nick’s Season 2 premiere boat motor killing. He really got the two coolest kills of the season.
He did. The thumbs in the eyes is my favorite. There was an opportunity, I suppose, to grab a scalpel or scissors, or something. But it was interesting to put him in a position where there were no easy weapons at hand, but he had to do what he had to do. Frank [Dillane]’s performance is quite wonderful through that. It was a combination of practical effects and visual effects, which I think came together in harmony. In grotesque, disgusting harmony.
In [“Grotesque”], there’s that scene Kate Barnow wrote, where Nick and Gloria are playing thumb war at rehab. And she says, “You’ve got freakishly long thumbs.” He says, “dexterous thumbs.” It really sparked from that. In some ways, we’d actually planted it already, laid a little bit of track for it.
At the end of the finale with Nick, there’s this swell of hopeful music, he sees the helicopter, he sees what he thinks is a refugee camp … and then it turns to hell very quickly. What can you hint at what that will mean for Season 3? Who are those people who start shooting at Nick and the people from the colonia?
Well, we’re going to be hugging the border. I think Season 3 will be very much our border season. It was important to start introducing elements for that. The folks that we see at the border for that attack, they’re definitely not military. If you check their uniforms at all, there’s no insignias, there’s no stripes, no rank. I think we’ll find ourselves dealing with something of a paramilitary, or militia, organization. Dayton Callie’s character, who we see in Episode 14, is dressed in similar fashion. We’d like to start reuniting some of our characters. Our fractured families are moving to Season 3. I think we’ll be heading in that direction, but [the militia] will not be the obvious big bads of the season. They’ll be a little bit more layered than that. They’ll definitely become an obstacle. And I think we’re going to find our families on opposite sides of the border, and possibly opposite camps.
By the way, Dayton Callie — how amazing to see him pop up on the show, when his character meets up with Ofelia. He’s a welcome sight in any show, but obviously it’s a nice Sons of Anarchy reunion for you.
Yeah, I’ve wanted to work with Dayton again for a long time. I had four seasons with him on Sons of Anarchy. He’s just a lovely guy, and he’s one of the most naturalistic actors that I know. That character, he’s got a way about him … where as gruff, and as violent as that guy can sometimes be, there’s a real humanity. There’s always a humor to him, which I love. Dayton’s going to be wonderful in the show. I’m looking forward to getting him and [his Sons and Deadwood co-star] Kim [Dickens] back in the same frame.
Speaking of Kim … Madison suggested her background, her experiences, are a lot more frightening than we might have guessed. As we go into Season 3, are we going to finally dive into the specifics of her backstory?
Yeah. We’ve alluded to something of a darker past, and I think that that’s what has made her be up for the challenge, in many respects, when the apocalypse struck. We saw where she was able to deal with Artie, the principal, way back in Episode 2, Season 1. We’ve seen a coldness to her. We’ve seen an ability for her to do things that most people could not do. That doesn’t come from nowhere. I think we’ll get a more concrete sense of where she’s coming from, and why she is who she is.
I know I’ve asked you this many times before, but as our people are heading back towards the States, I have to ask you again: is there any chance we’re going to see our “Apocalypse Whisperer,” Tobias (Lincoln A. Castellanos), again, and is there any chance we’re going to see Daniel (Rubén Blades) again?
There’s always hope for Tobias. Tobias is not dead. He is still in L.A., he is scrounging, he’s surviving. Then we’ll see. There’s still a lot of traffic to get from L.A. down to the border. I think there’s certain obstacles to face on that.
As for Daniel, what was important following the fire in Episode 7 is the fact that Ofelia and everyone else believes that Daniel is gone. It was really an opportunity to have her break from her past, have her break from the burden, the responsibility, she placed on herself in taking care of Grizelda and of Daniel. I’m hopeful that he may find his way back to the story in Season 3, but I can’t make any promises yet.
There was a split second, when Dayton’s character was coming upon Ofelia, where I thought it might be Daniel.
You’re the second person that has said that, and to be honest, I hadn’t considered that. I was so focused on the Northern elements we’re bringing in. Rubén is a wonderful actor, and is a wonderful person, and I love that character. He’s important to me. It’s something that is in the forefront of my mind.
