Once upon a time, crossovers between The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead seemed nigh on impossible given the differences in geography and place in the zombie apocalypse timeline, but that's not the case anymore. Lennie James already made the jump from The Walking Dead to Fear, and now he will be joined by another Walking Dead star in Season 5: Austin Amelio, a.k.a. Dwight.
AMC confirmed to CinemaBlend that Austin Amelio is reprising his role as Dwight for Fear the Walking Dead. As Walking Dead fans will remember, Dwight left the parent show in the Season 8 finale when Daryl exiled him for his past wrongs. At the time, many viewers may have wondered why Daryl spared the man who he had sworn to kill. Now, it appears that Dwight still has a larger purpose in the zombie apocalypse.
The news that Dwight will appear on Fear the Walking Dead may be a bummer to any Walking Dead fans who hoped that he would emerge from the woodwork in the second half of Season 9, perhaps to help with the Whisperers. Considering how deadly the new group already seems to be, maybe even Daryl would be able to move past his threat when he sent Dwight off. Hey, if Maggie could let Negan live, why not Daryl and Dwight?
Well, Daryl and Dwight might not be interacting for the foreseeable future. If Dwight is going to be hanging out with anybody from the parent show, it will almost certainly be Morgan. No details are currently available about what Dwight will be doing or what takes him to the new area, but perhaps he continued his search for Sherry, and that took him all the way to Texas. Austin Amelio certainly thought that was Dwight's next goal, as recently as the end of October!
This casting news is just one more move of Fear the Walking Dead adding new characters to fill the void left by original characters that have been killed off. Madison and Nick were killed off in Season 4, which followed the earlier deaths of Chris and Travis Manawa. As of the end of Season 4, the only remaining original cast members are Alycia Debnam-Carey, Colman Domingo, and Danay Garcia.
Given Morgan's prominence following his move to Fear the Walking Dead, perhaps we should expect Dwight to have a significant role in the spinoff. I'm not sure that his arrival will be a much of a ratings-booster, but franchise fans can enjoy seeing him back in the action without returning to The Walking Dead. Hey, maybe Dwight will be more fun once he's 100% gone from Negan, the Saviors, and Daryl.
Fear the Walking Dead has not yet received an exact premiere date for Season 5, but it's expected to hit the airwaves in 2019. The second half of The Walking Dead Season 9 will kick off on Sunday, February 10 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. I'm definitely curious to find out how the show will move on following that epically awful midseason finale death! For more upcoming viewing options, swing by our midseason TV premiere guide.
