The series finale of “Fear The Walking Dead” deviated from the typical Walking Dead narrative, practically rewriting the franchise ‘rules.’

WARNING! This article contains Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 finale spoiler.Fear The Walking Dead‘s series finale deviated from the typical cinematics of its parent series The Walking Dead. Contrary to the original series’ surprising and horrifying character deaths, the finale episode of Fear the Walking Dead chose a different path. The spinoff series refrained from killing any of its major characters.

In explaining the series’ conclusion, Andrew Chambliss and Ian B. Goldberg, its executive producers and co-showrunners, offered insights into their choice. The duo sat down with Screen Rant to discuss the series finale. Chambliss revealed that the decision to keep the core characters alive was a deliberate one, rooted in the desire to showcase their evolution and to leave the door open for future growth.

“As we conceived the story, we knew that the characters who survive are all going to survive, so we didn’t really go down any roads and then double back to change that. We wanted this to be a finale that showed how all these characters had changed, and it felt like in order to see that change, we needed to have the potential for future growth. For many of these characters, this is just a moment where this chapter of their lives is ending and the next one is starting. We want to feel like these next chapters were continuing in all these different directions, and it just didn’t include death for any of them.”

The decision by the showrunners to conclude the series in such a manner might have been aimed at establishing a new trend in The Walking Dead universe. In the flagship series, while major characters like Glenn Rhee, Carl Grimes, and Shane Walsh often meet their end, equal care is given to protect its longest-serving characters. Survivors such as Daryl Dixon, Carol Peletier, and Rick Grimes, had their own spinoff series.

The survival of significant characters in Fear the Walking Dead isn’t an automatic ticket to their appearance in spinoffs later on. But it highlights the importance of providing a more extensive narrative arc for these characters. By avoiding the finality of death for its main cast, the show allows for a broader exploration of their journeys, both in the context of the series and potentially beyond.

Chambliss and Goldberg chose to keep the main characters alive. They have opened up new possibilities for these characters’ futures, while aiming to provide a satisfying conclusion to their current arcs. This choice mirrors a wider trend in serialized TV storytelling, prioritizing character growth and continuous narrative possibilities over using deaths for shock value.