The concluding half of Fear The Walking Dead’s third season arrives on AMC next month, revealing to fans how successful – or otherwise – Madison’s (Kim Dickens) efforts to broker peace between the ranch community and Walker’s group have been.
Fans who’ve been keen to know what happens next may be surprised to learn that even the cast often have to wait to learn how plot lines develop and even the fate of their characters.
Speaking to SEENIT over the summer during a trip to London, Danay Garcia, who plays Luciana, revealed “the entire cast is in the same boat”.
“We live in this building and we go to the gym and somebody sees somebody else coming out and it’s like ‘did you get the script? Do you know?’, ‘I know nothing, oh my gosh, what’s going to happen next?’”
“We are in this constant weird space where we don’t know what’s going to happen.
“I think they kind of do it on purpose because it keeps you really present – you don’t think too far ahead, you just think ‘now, now, now’ until you get the next script.”
Despite the uncertainty and any actor’s understandable desire to know “where’s your arc going, what’s going to happen?” Danay says she’s “learnt to embrace” the creative challenges and opportunities the show’s working practice brings.
“You need to use your imagination a lot more than if you have the entire story because you have to be very open and have this very direct line to where you want to go – where you think it’s going – so you have to use more of your imagination.”
Considering this lack of foreknowledge and the constant danger presented by Fear’s apocalyptic setting and zombie hordes, it’s not surprising Danay’s given some thought to how she’d want Luciana to exit the series
“I think I would like to leave gloriously. I think she deserves that. I wouldn’t like to just be slammed by a car. I would like her to leave in a battle, fighting for what she believes in.”
Our talk with Danay came just a few days after Jodie Whittaker was announced as Doctor Who’s new lead and the ferocious uproar that caused in some sections of the show’s fandom.
While sci-fi and fantasy shows are doing better in boosting the number of strong female characters, the reaction to Whittaker and similar rows in comic and the wider sci-fi/fantasy audiences suggest there’s still an expectation that key roles will be male.
And yet, one of the most striking things about Fear is how woman drive the events of its world, most notably Kim Dickens’ Madison, but also Luciana and Madison’s daughter Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey).
Danay told us she was proud of the show’s portrayal of woman in a “world that is so manly” in nature.
“You never wear a dress ever, you never wear anything that a woman would normally wear, and the fact that it’s so female oriented is just looking at the show with a different filter – how a woman will take of her family in this time of an apocalypse.”
“It’s been really fun, we’re really smart creatures how we use our psychology to overcome obstacles. We don’t just come up with, like, killing, shooting, let’s make it more unique and grounded and dark and scary and twisted.”
“That I really enjoy, I love to represent women, to represent the warriors that are women in this show and the men just put up with that.
“Luciana is more straightforward [than Madison], she doesn’t think too much but it’s just nice to see every perspective of a woman.”
“It’s really, really entertaining and its different. It’s something we don’t see often and that’s what’s exciting and I love being part of that.”
Fear The Walking Dead season three returns on September 11th to AMC which is exclusive to BT TV and BT Sports Pack customers on Sky.
Check back after the first episode’s transmission for our interview with Daniel Sharman in which he discusses what’s in store for his character, Troy, as the season unfolds.