Morgan Jones is officially en route to Fear The Walking Dead, that much we know, but it turns out the arrival of Lennie James’ hardened survivor is part of a larger sea change set to occur within AMC’s prequel series.
Via Entertainment Weekly, series showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, who took over for Dave Erickson, the show’s original co-creator, just prior to season 4, spoke at length about Fear The Walking Dead ahead of its return in April.
First thing’s first: where do things pick up? Not long after season 3, as it turns out, which reached its conclusion with a dam exploding in Mexico.
We leave season 3, and the only character whose fate we know is Madison’s. So, everything else is left unanswered. Let’s just say, without giving too much away, we’re going to be playing with expectations, we’re going to be telling stories that experiment with time.
As for Morgan, Lennie James is by no means the only new face to be welcomed into the FTWD family, as season 4 also features Jenna Elfman, Maggie Grace, Garret Dillahunt, Kevin Zegers. It’ll “experiment with time,” too, which isn’t all that surprising when you consider that James has been quoted as saying that Morgan’s crossover will toy with expectations.
Here’s what Andrew Chambliss had to share:
We’re playing around with narrative structure and, hopefully, have done it in such a way that when the audience thinks they’ve figured out where we’re going, we have a way to pull the rug out from under them. The decision to reach for those narrative techniques was to really make people feel on edge because this is how the characters feel in the apocalypse, never knowing what’s going to come around the corner. That’s one of the things we’re leaning into.
Chambliss was then asked straight-up about a possible time jump, to which he replied:
Maybe? I won’t say specifically, but yeah, maybe.
So many questions, so few answers. Thankfully, it won’t be too long before Chambliss and Goldberg play their hand, as Fear The Walking Dead season 4 has been penciled in for a premiere on April 15th – exactly seven weeks after the midseason premiere of its companion series.
