Fear the Walking Dead Was Destined To Be a Hit, but What Went Wrong?

The greatest strategy to describe Fear the Walking Dead is a rollercoaster.

What began as a compelling look into how the world fell turned a tedious affair, and we’re shocked it is even getting an eighth and closing season to tie up free ends.

The sequence was destined for fulfillment on its model identify alone, and searching again, it is arduous to consider that it’s the similar present we watched throughout the first three seasons.

It’s time to dive into how the present misplaced most of its viewers and whether or not something may have prevented the sequence from changing into what it’s as we speak: A shell of its former self.

Fear the Walking Dead Season 1 premiered to a respectable response and broke a number of cable information.

It began as a sequence about the Clark household and their battle to come back to phrases with the fall of the world.

It wasn’t unhealthy at the starting, but you could possibly inform the sequence was having a little bit of an identification disaster by way of exhibiting greatest what occurred in these early days of the outbreak.

The Clarks had been a formidable household, but all of them handled one thing deeply private whereas navigating this new world order.

Cliff Curtis, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Mercedes Mason, and Ruben Blades had been additionally a a part of the early forged as their characters joined forces with the Clarks to flee to someplace secure.

Fear the Walking Dead Season 2 elevated the stakes as the survivors joined forces with Colman Domingo’s Victor Strand, and the season provided one thing new to the franchise due to everybody residing on a boat.

There was a lot of story to mine from that, but the present hit its peak with Fear the Walking Dead Season 3.

The first half of the season is thought to be one in every of the greatest half-seasons in franchise historical past.

At a number of factors throughout the first three seasons, Fear the Walking Dead did eclipse the principal sequence by way of high quality. There’s no query about that.

At the finish of the third season, when the present ended with the mom of all cliffhangers, showrunner Dave Erickson was let go by AMC.

In his place, Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg clearly needed to make their mark on the sequence, in order that they introduced Lennie James over from the principal present as Morgan Jones.

In one in every of the most shocking strikes, Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 centered the plot round Morgan and minimized the presence of a number of vital characters earlier than they had been killed off.

Kim Dickens was written out of the sequence and made it identified she was not a fan of the inventive path.

Fans revolted as a result of they misplaced two members of the Clark household, leaving Alicia in a world with out her mom and brother.

It would have been simpler to know if the sequence then revolved round her, but the sequence turned the Morgan present, successfully alienating many followers that loved the first three seasons.

Fear the Walking Dead Season 3 concluded with a number of cliffhangers and wonderful characters, but a lot of these characters had been erased from existence when the new showrunners took the wheel.

Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 was tough, but it was nothing in comparison with Fear the Walking Dead Season 5, a season of TV that made me query whether or not I used to be being punked.

The characters turned caricatures as the writing continued to flatline, giving the sense that the present was limping to the end line.

Then got here Fear the Walking Dead Season 6, the first season since the reboot that felt like a present price watching.

With compelling villains, character dynamics, and a plot that made Morgan extra attention-grabbing, it appeared like the sequence was on the highway to restoration.

Unfortunately, that solely lasted for half a season and the second half slipped again into the previous methods of writing. What a rollercoaster!

The season did finish with an unprecedented twist in the type of nuclear warheads exploding, filling Texas with radiation, and altering how the characters method survival.

Fear the Walking Dead Season 7 began decently sufficient, but it shortly turned a poor plot about Strand and his tower and the way he needed to grow to be this massive villain.

It would not have been as unhealthy if it did not final the complete season, but there have been so many questionable inventive selections that signaled the sequence could be unable to keep up any type of consistency underneath Chambliss and Goldberg.

The finish of the season was weird, with Debnam-Carey written out in a manner that made some followers suppose her character was useless and others suppose she was cured of her mysterious ailment.

Fans watched in horror as Alicia fainted her manner by means of the season after being bitten by a zombie. It’s a disgrace the actress was given such horrific materials to work with earlier than she departed.

You can solely think about our shock when Kim Dickens returned as Madison Clark on Fear the Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 16, precisely one episode after Alicia’s exit.

It would have been way more satisfying to have the mother-daughter again collectively for a few episodes earlier than having them half methods as a consequence of the subsequent mission.

After spending such a very long time in that universe, you deserve these character moments to really feel like there’s a payoff.

For Madison, we realized that she survived the fireplace at the stadium, but her well being had deteriorated.

The season finale launched us to a new villainous group and setting, which hinted that one other overhaul was in the playing cards.

So, you’ll be able to solely think about our shock when it was introduced in January 2023 that the sequence would finish with Season 8, and even worse, it could solely be 12 episodes.

With manufacturing already nicely underway and the present transferring to Savannah for tax credit, it does not give us the fuzzies that the sequence can have a conclusive ending.

It feels like the cancellation was a last-minute factor. Just a few months in the past, franchise overlord, Scott M. Gimple was saying FTWD was now the “flagship” after the conclusion of the principal sequence.

AMC has made a lot of headlines for canceling reveals with episodes in the can in a cost-cutting measure, so possibly we ought to be blissful we’re getting the produced episodes in any respect.

However, the situation with Fear the Walking Dead has been the management. The sequence went by means of a interval with horrific critiques and freefalling rankings after the new showrunners took over.

It’s arduous to consider AMC allowed the similar showrunners to stay with the present for the remainder of its run. Sometimes, even the greatest showrunners aren’t the proper folks for sure reveals, and sadly, Ian and Andrew did irreparable harm to the sequence’ legacy.

Fear the Walking Dead all the time had the potential to be nice, and I would not have minded a third showrunner making an attempt to steer the sequence again in the proper path.

With one season left, it is arduous to think about the sequence miraculously recapturing its former glory.

What are your ideas on what went incorrect with the sequence as a entire?

Hit the feedback beneath.

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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.