One of Fear the Walking Dead’s most memorable tragedies came in season 2 when it killed off Chris. Played by Lorenzo James Henrie, Travis’ son was one of the original members of the main group, having traveled with them since the start of the zombie apocalypse. Together, they experienced several hardships, including the death of Chris’ mother, Liza (Elizabeth Rodriguez).
In season 2, it became increasingly apparent that Chris’ troubled relationship with Travis (Cliff Curtis) was far from his only problem. As it turned out, Chris posed a real danger to the people around him. One of the first signs of this presented itself when Chris killed a tied-up prisoner, claiming falsely that the man was going to turn. As time passed, it was revealed that Chris seemed to possess a morbid curiosity about killing that deeply disturbed both his father, Madison (Kim Dickens), and the others. Travis, who sadly recognized that his son was going down the wrong path, tried in vain to keep him safe. When Chris went off with two other survivors, Travis followed them, and found out later that Chris had died.
Fear the Walking Dead season 2, episode 14 revealed through flashbacks of Chris’ two traveling companions that he caused a crash after falling asleep at the wheel. Having been wounded on the leg, the two killed Chris out of concern of him turning into a zombie. In response, Travis savagely beat the two men to death. It was without a doubt a shocking end to the character’s Fear the Walking Dead story, especially since it played out in flashbacks about an event that had already happened. According to then-showrunner Dave Erickson, the decision to kill off Chris in this way stemmed from their plans for Cliff Curtis’ Travis [via EW]. Their intention was for Chris’ death to propel Travis into a new direction. Erickson explained that they wanted to use this tragic moment to explore what this would mean for Travis as a person.
While the way Fear the Walking Dead killed off Chris was a bit unique and unexpected, his death had felt inevitable for a while. His downward spiral and dark turn certainly made it appear that he was reaching a point where co-existing with the other characters wasn’t going to work, and in a way, it was already at that stage. People like Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) couldn’t trust him anymore, and for good reason. It could be that if he stuck around, he eventually would have transformed into a much greater threat.
As noted by Erickson, Chris’ death did have an interesting impact on Travis, whose strong sense of morality was an integral part of his character. It served as a great test for him, considering the guilt it had left him with. However, it’s worth pointing out that its impact was short-lived; Travis’ own story ended in season 3’s second episode, which means that Fear the Walking Dead didn’t delve into his loss for more than three full episodes before adding Travis himself to the show’s list of casualties. The series had to kill him off too, due to the actor’s obligations to the Avatar sequels. With both Chris and Travis gone, the series focused on the Clarke family and their remaining allies for the show’s third season.
