The Walking Dead‘s final season has proven a surprisingly death-lite affair so far, but Fear The Walking Dead season 7 confirms the zombie apocalypse still has bite. Over the past decade, The Walking Dead has continually justified its reputation as one of TV’s most ruthless worlds, where no character is safe and major deaths lurk around every corner. As such, viewers would’ve been forgiven for anticipating The Walking Dead would up its game in season 11 – confirmed as the show’s last run. Instead, The Walking Dead‘s climactic season has been disappointingly tame, only killing off a light handful of supporting and background characters. Alden – by far The Walking Dead season 11’s most high-profile victim – didn’t even meet his demise onscreen.
Just as The Walking Dead‘s protagonists are locked in a feud against the Commonwealth, Morgan Jones’ Fear The Walking Dead group are waging war against The Tower. Victor Strand has fulfilled his villainous potential by evolving into a dictator analogous to The Walking Dead‘s Negan, commanding his office block community with an iron fist. As half of Texas bathes in nuclear fallout, Morgan joins Alicia Clark in one last-ditch attempt to liberate The Tower, and turn Strand’s discriminatory fortress into a welcoming haven for all.
Since Fear The Walking Dead is officially confirmed for season 8, Morgan and Alicia’s battle for The Tower is not the spinoff’s final arc – but it’s still succeeding where The Walking Dead season 11 falls down. As Fear‘s landscape becomes more heated, characters big and and small have either died already, or are rapidly heading in that direction. John Dorie Sr. sacrificed his life to break Mo out of Strand’s Tower, Charlie’s condition is terminal after she contracted radiation poisoning, and Arno – Fear The Walking Dead season 7’s secondary antagonist – endured a fatal zombie leg wax. Strand executed Howard as punishment for not betraying him (which tells you something about the villain’s mental state), Alicia is suffering some kind of permanent fever, and a string of different guest stars bit the dust inside a single episode – Will, Paul, Ali, etc.
Even more major deaths have been teased for Fear The Walking Dead season 7’s remaining episodes. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to imagine Colman Domingo’s Victor Strand sticking around if he loses The Tower, while Daniel already admitted to Luciana that reliving Ofelia’s death all over again could break him completely. By killing off so many significant characters and teasing the deaths of even more, Fear The Walking Dead works hard to cement the high stakes of season 7’s battle against Strand. The spinoff’s heavy death toll also hammers home the double-threat of roaming zombies and nuclear radiation, ensuring viewers don’t underestimate the danger these survivors are facing – both in the wild, and during the ongoing Tower War.
By comparison, The Walking Dead season 11’s Commonwealth arc feels yet to truly ignite. As the main show’s Grim Reaper restricts itself to sporadically scything only low-impact, ineffectual targets (Leah, Marco, etc…) there’s no sense of danger or unpredictability as The Walking Dead‘s final season digs deeper. Although that could soon change in the last block of episodes, some protagonists are protected by spinoff armor. Daryl, Negan and Maggie have all been placed off-limits, as fresh Walking Dead projects beckon in their futures.
And speaking of the future, Fear The Walking Dead‘s death toll could have major ramifications for season 8. It’s perfectly possible that the Tower War kills off John Dorie Sr., Charlie, Strand, Alicia, and Daniel, depriving Fear The Walking Dead of 5 main characters. Is season 7 beckoning a cast revolution? Kim Dickens will officially return as Madison Clark, after all – perhaps her storyline incorporates mostly fresh faces, making the current crop expendable. Even if Fear The Walking Dead‘s trigger happy spree stops here, season 7’s Tower War has successfully cultivated a climate of danger and unpredictability – a feat The Walking Dead season 11 hasn’t yet managed.
Fear The Walking Dead continues Sunday on AMC.
