Although Troy Otto claimed to have killed Alicia in Fear The Walking Dead season 8, his later actions serve as a big indication that he was lying.

Warning: spoilers ahead for Fear The Walking Dead season 8, episode 8.

Alicia Clark’s survival hopes have received a major boost thanks to an important clue from Fear The Walking Dead season 8, episode 8. When Alycia Debnam-Carey left Fear The Walking Dead in season 7, she departed safe in the knowledge that her character, Alicia Clark, was alive, and could potentially come back in future projects. Alicia’s prospects of a return began looking considerably bleaker following the surprise return of Troy Otto, who claimed to have executed Alicia personally as an act of revenge against her mother, Madison, stemming from their feud in Fear The Walking Dead season 3.

A golden rule of modern TV is never to believe a character death is legitimate until an identifiable body has been shown. This is doubly true for Fear The Walking Dead, which has seen Daniel, Madison, Charlie, and even Troy himself involved in ludicrous examples of cheating death by the skin of the skin of their teeth. Until Fear The Walking Dead shows Alicia’s body onscreen, reanimated or otherwise, the possibility of her being alive remains. Troy’s plan to torment Madison in Fear The Walking Dead season 8, episode 8, “Iron Tiger,” makes his claim about murdering Alicia look even more dubious.

Troy Cutting Off Zombie Arms Hints Alicia Is Still Alive In Fear The Walking Dead

Due to Alicia amputating her left arm following a zombie bite in Fear The Walking Dead season 7, her corpse will be easier to identify than most. Fear The Walking Dead season 8, episode 8 shows Troy Otto rounding up random zombies, slicing off their left arms, and then releasing them back into the wild. Troy is deliberately making these zombies resemble Alicia Clark, and hoping one of them will cross Madison’s path. The mere fact that Troy is creating zombie lookalikes of Alicia indicates that he may have been lying about killing her from the start.

Firstly, Troy could be trying to trick Madison into mistaking a regular zombie for Alicia because there is no real zombie Alicia out there. Troy carried Alicia’s metal arm in his possession, meaning the pair must have encountered each other at some point. Perhaps, however, Troy was unable to finish Alicia off, and came away with only her false limb as a consolation prize. Frustrated, Troy may have lied to Madison about Alicia’s death to hurt her emotionally, and then began releasing similar-looking zombies in order to further the ruse.

Secondly, the one-armed zombie trick highlights how Troy is willing to use lies and deception if it means hurting Madison’s feelings. Content to falsify Alicia’s corpse, it seems highly plausible for Troy to lie about her death in the first place. If Troy really had killed Alicia and left her wandering around as a zombie, he would have caused far more mental devastation by simply letting Madison embark on a needle-in-a-haystack hunt for her daughter’s undead remains. By creating fake Alicias, Troy could be trying to divert Madison away from the truth – that her daughter is actually alive.

Troy Lying About Alicia’s Death Would Be Great For FTWD’s Ending

If Troy is lying about Alicia’s death in Fear The Walking Dead, that would represent both a huge relief, and a huge boost for the spinoff’s rapidly-approaching final episode. As one of Fear The Walking Dead‘s most vital characters, Alicia Debnam-Carey’s Alicia Clark always deserved more than to be killed off-screen with a single line of dialogue. If Troy is being truthful, Fear The Walking Dead would have done a huge disservice to Alicia’s character.

Alicia being alive also leaves the door open to a potential reunion scene with Madison, and means Debnam-Carey can be part of any future The Walking Dead crossover. If Morgan Jones succeeds in his mission to find Rick Grimes, then tells him all about the friends he made while on the road, Alicia and her fellow Fear The Walking Dead survivors could easily be incorporated into larger-scale stories within the Walking Dead world. That possibility can only be entertained, however, if Troy is lying about Alicia’s death.

Finally, Alicia’s survival would contribute greatly to the redemption arc Fear The Walking Dead is teasing for Troy Otto. “Iron Tiger” revealed that Troy did not want to conquer PADRE purely for the sake of vengeance, but to provide a safe home for his own daughter, Tracy. This revelation immediately makes Troy a more sympathetic figure, teasing his turn away from evil in Fear The Walking Dead‘s ending. If Troy was only lying about murdering Alicia, the villain would be far easier to forgive.