Fear The Walking Dead Needs Madison's Return More Than Ever

Kim Dickens is confirmed to return as Madison Clark in Fear The Walking Dead - and season 7 proves her presence is needed more than ever.

Fear The Walking Dead needs Madison Clark’s return to happen sooner rather than later, as season 7 finds itself suffering a protagonist drought. Kim Dickens portrayed Madison Clark from Fear The Walking Dead‘s series premiere all the way through to season 4, during which time she developed into the spinoff’s answer to Rick Grimes. Madison appeared to perish during a blazing fire at her Dell Diamond Basement Stadium community, but viewers never saw the body. Honoring the golden rule of TV deaths, Madison’s is now confirmed for Fear The Walking Dead season 7. She apparently survived the fire, and is being held captive by a mystery group.

Currently in Fear The Walking Dead, Victor Strand has established a brutal dictatorship in an office tower – one of precious few locations safe from the fallout of Teddy’s nuclear bomb. As survival elsewhere in the blast zone becomes increasingly tense, Morgan Jones and Alicia Clark have decided seizing Strand’s Tower is their only viable option. Fear The Walking Dead season 7 has gradually built tension between both sides, and the tinder box is set to ignite by the time credits roll on “Sonny Boy.”

Predictably, Madison is yet to appear this far out from season 7’s finale, but Fear The Walking Dead‘s “Strand vs. the world” storyline is proving exactly why she’s necessary. For a start, AMC’s zombie spinoff is desperately lacking a worthy protagonist – a hero audiences can truly root for. Every character currently alive in Fear The Walking Dead occupies a moral shade of gray. Strand obviously sits right down the villainous end, but Morgan’s desperation to win has pushed him toward increasingly questionable methods – telling Luciana to “fix” Daniel, and sending Charlie on a deadly solo mission, for instance. Luciana herself – once Fear The Walking Dead‘s moral compass – has suffered a drastic fall from grace after lying to Daniel about Ofelia’s death, June put a baby in danger, and Wes has flipped to Strand’s side. No one is emerging from this war smelling of roses.

The closest Fear The Walking Dead has to a hero right now is Alicia Clark… but therein lies the other reason Madison’s return is so vital. In season 7, Fear The Walking Dead has adopted something close to an anthology format, which worked well while everyone was separated in the aftermath of Teddy’s bomb, but feels less appropriate now folks are either based at The Tower or on Morgan’s submarine. The anthology style means characters disappear for several episodes at a time, and Alicia – Fear The Walking Dead‘s de facto hero – is especially guilty. Barely appearing in season 7’s first half, she hasn’t been spotted since the mid-season premiere, leaving Fear The Walking Dead with no one worth getting behind, and no real focal point.

That’s exactly what Kim Dickens’ Madison brings to the table. Across her 4 seasons of zombie survival (well, 3-and-a-half), Kim became the linchpin of Fear The Walking Dead – a core presence every other character orbited around. Kim evolved into a narrative driving force, and though both Morgan and Alicia have filled that role in more recent seasons, one is now morally spiraling, and the other is often AWOL. More than ever, Fear The Walking Dead needs a brave, righteous hero to anchor the show. Who better than the spinoff’s original brave, righteous hero, Madison Clark?