Sounds Like Fear The Walking Dead Season 7 Will Turn One Hero Into A Villain
Spoilers below for anyone who hasn't yet watched the Season 6 finale for Fear the Walking Dead!
Well, zombie fans, Fear the Walking Dead went and doubled down on its post-apocalyptic approach by filling the air with nuclear warheads during its Season 6 finale. While at least one major character was killed off by the destructive blasts, seemingly every main protagonist was still alive and breathing by the time the credits rolled, although that doesn't mean Season 7 will be all hunky-dory. For instance, things ended contentiously for Lennie James' Morgan and Karen David's Grace after finding Baby Morgan and his walker-fied mom, and it looks like Colman Domingo's Victor Strand will be leaning harder into his villainous instincts when the new episodes start.
As viewers will recall, Strand started the episode off feeling like a total shitheel for his feeble attempts to sacrifice Morgan while thwarting the nuclear missile's deployment, neither of which was successful. So when he arrived at the museum-esque lodgings of Omid Abtahi's new character Howard, he totally lied about his identity by using Morgan's name, and gave Howard other false impressions, believing their deaths were imminent. But after it was clear they weren't dead yet, Strand unleased a full confession on Howard about everything and introduced a far more cavalier attitude about trying to do things right.
Co-showrunner Ian Goldberg talked with EW about the Season 6 finale and spoke to the idea that surviving the current nuclear situation is going to reaffirm some of Strand's more selfish and villainous instincts in the future.
Whereas Morgan went from feeling suicidal with Grace to going right back into Dad Mode upon finding the infant whose birth kicked Season 6 off, Strand is apparently feeling another kind of way about what his future will be good for. And it sounds like he's going back to being the greedy and selfish egoist that was first introduced in Season 1. Ian Goldberg continued, saying:
To be sure, it's not like Strand has build up a bulky resume of heroic acts that would earn him any Most Virtuous Survivor awards, especially considering he spent a chunk of this season as an enforcer for Colby Minifie's antagonist Virginia. Sure, it was mostly a scheme to turn Virginia's group against her, but one that Strand mostly kept to himself and enacted for his own benefit as much as anyone else's. So it's not altogether surprising that he'll return to his most basic instincts in Season 7, but I like the idea that he'll at least be honest with himself about it while doing so.
When CinemaBlend spoke with Fear the Walking Dead co-executive producer Michael Satrazemis, who directed the Season 6 finale, I commented on Howard's subdued presence being a catalyst for Strand's admissions. But Satrazemis hinted at Strand's turn by saying it was surviving a nuclear explosion that really uncorked things.
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If Strand's DNA is altered permanently, that could mean he's destined to remain on the villainous side of the moral spectrum until his final days. But maybe things won't be so bad, or maybe his final days are coming sooner than we might think. When I asked Michael Satrazemis about Omid Abtahi's Howard having a potential impact in Season 7, he gave a very ominous response before lauding the actor's work in the surprise guest spot.
Could it be that one of the explosions that viewers didn't see will have a major impact on Strand and/or Howard when Season 7 starts off? It seems likely that showing only some of the detonations was an intentional way to bridge the two seasons together, and it'll be interesting to see how destructive and deadly the next premiere will get later this year.
Fear the Walking Dead is currently on hiatus as fans wait for the impending Season 11 premiere of The Walking Dead, but viewers can relive the highs and lows of Season 6 at any time via the streaming service AMC+.
Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper. Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.