Fear the Walking Dead executive producer Michael E. Satrazemis reflects on key references to The Walking Dead within the spinoff’s final season.
Summary
- Returning locations from The Walking Dead were crucial in wrapping up Fear the Walking Dead‘s final season and paying tribute to the franchise’s history.
- The utilization of familiar locations brought closure to the character arcs of Morgan and Dwight while leaving room for future adventures.
- The inclusion of classic places signifies the end of the shows that originally defined the zombie universe, paving the way for smaller spinoffs featuring familiar characters.
Fear the Walking Dead executive producer Michael E. Satrazemis has opened up about the inclusion of key references to The Walking Dead in the spinoff’s final season, and why they’re so important. Season 8 of the long-running zombie show saw the return of major locations from the flagship series. This included Morgan’s house from The Walking Dead season 1, as well as the Sanctuary, where Negan and the Saviors resided.
Speaking with AMC Talk, Satrazemis explained the importance of returning locations from the flagship series for Fear the Walking Dead‘s final season. The executive producer revealed familiar locations were used as a way to wrap up the spinoff while reflecting on key parts of the franchise that helped develop it over the years. Check out what Satrazemis had to say below:
Whenever you’re going to wrap something up, whenever you’re going to finish something, you need to be reminded of the journey and of the scars. It’s eight years [of] so much rich storytelling and to be able to go back through that – including over on The Walking Dead with the Sanctuary, with the house from the pilot for Morgan, like those kind of things – it’s amazing for a viewer and a creator to remember the history. You know, we are our history. We’re made up of all of our past events. And to be able to elegantly work through some of the real highlight ones, the ones that affected the characters the most, that shaped them the most in this last season before we said goodbye to them, I thought was really beautiful.
Why Returning Walking Dead Locations Were So Important To Fear
The spinoff utilized returning locations from the main series to bring closure to both Morgan and Dwight’s character arcs. Both heroes arrived in Texas during earlier seasons of the show, with the duo taking more central roles in the series as it continued. Morgan’s return to where his son died and Dwight’s going back to the Sanctuary gave both characters closure, while also leaving the door open for their future adventures.
Alongside giving specific characters proper endings, the return of classic settings reflects how the spinoff’s conclusion ends the shows that originally defined the franchise. Going forward, the zombie universe will be made up of spinoffs like Dead City, Daryl Dixon, and The Ones Who Live, telling smaller stories featuring familiar characters from previous shows. While it’s possible Fear the Walking Dead characters could cross over in future spinoffs, the finalized ending is bolstered by familiar locations shown throughout the season. This seemingly closes the book on anything from the spinoff returning.
Due to just how conclusive Fear the Walking Dead‘s ending is, it makes sense the spinoff paid tribute to the franchise using locations important to some of its crossover characters. Their stories wrapping up helped bring the show and its characters to their logical ends. It also exhibits how much history the final season was able to pull from, something ongoing spinoffs can also utilize more going forward.
