Could Morgan's savior in Fear The Walking Dead season 6 be a returning Madison? When Fear The Walking Dead first aired in 2015, the prequel centered around the blended family of Madison Clark and Travis Manawa. Before long, Kim Dickens' Madison had asserted herself as the show's lead protagonist, and experienced the kind of apocalypse-driven evolution that the likes of Rick Grimes and Carol Peletier underwent in the main series. Fear The Walking Dead's fourth season represented somewhat of a soft reboot, accelerating the timeline and introducing a new crop of characters. Alicia, Strand and Luciana (and Nick for a little while) were still around, but Madison was suspiciously absent. The survivors eventually revealed that Madison had sacrificed herself to let them flee from a baseball stadium overrun by zombies.
Heading into season 6, Fear The Walking Dead's storylines haven't got any happier. Season 5 ended with most of the protagonist group being forcibly taken in by Virginia, while Morgan was shot and left to die surrounded by walkers. Fear The Walking Dead's season 6 trailer has already revealed that Morgan is still alive (for now), but the franchise veteran is clearly in bad shape, and his situation becomes exponentially worse when Virginia sends a bounty hunter after him. Morgan is going to need help to survive, but with most of his friends otherwise occupied, who could leap to his rescue?
Perhaps the most intriguing potential hero riding in to save Morgan would be a returning Kim Dickens as Madison Clark. As a rule of zombified thumb in the world of The Walking Dead, audiences shouldn't assume a character death is set in stone unless their demise is explicitly confirmed on-screen. On countless occasions, Fear The Walking Dead and its parent series have teased the deaths of main characters, only for the victim to somehow escape the clutches of the reaper. Madison's death scene could absolutely fall into this category.
Locking herself in the zombie infested stadium, Madison was surrounded by undead and then ignited the walkers with a flare. Regardless, a body was never seen, and the account of Madison's death came from her friends and children who were on the other side of the arena when the incident took place. Madison could've been overwhelmed by zombies or charred by the fiery blaze, but she also could've found a way to survive and escape. This wouldn't be any more outlandish than Daniel Salazar surviving a similar explosion in season 2, or Morgan not kicking the bucket by the time Fear The Walking Dead season 6 begins. Whether there were concrete plans in place or not, Madison's death was afforded just enough ambiguity to allow Dickens a potential return.
Madison has been sorely missed in Fear The Walking Dead, with season 5 in particular attracting heavy criticism. The return of Kim Dickens could certainly help steady the ship, and a season 6 teaser even hinted at Madison's long-awaited comeback with the tagline "who will rise from the ashes?" Unless Fear The Walking Dead's marketing team is diving deep into the big book of advertising cliches, this line isn't applicable to any character currently on the show, but is perfectly appropriate for Madison.
Madison's return would naturally raise questions with regards to her whereabouts, and the reason behind her sudden return, but even this can be explained in the current context of Fear The Walking Dead. If Madison survived the baseball stadium incident, she would've spent the following years doggedly trying to track down Alicia and Nick. Since the zombie apocalypse is a big place, it's no surprise that the Clark family are yet to reunite. In season 5, however, Alicia was part of a video campaign offering help to other survivors, putting her name and face out there for all to see. Madison coming across one of these tapes would adequately explain her sudden reappearance, and also give her a reason to aid Morgan, since he was also in the video, and therefore must know Alicia.
Madison could have a crucial role in Fear The Walking Dead's sixth season. Morgan was soundly beaten by Virginia, and Lennie James' character no longer possesses the ruthless streak a leader requires when an enemy faction appears. Years on the road hunting for her children (and possibly even finding out about Nick's death) is sure to harden Madison even further. All Morgan needs to do is point her towards Virginia and watch the fireworks.
Fear The Walking Dead season 6 premieres October 11th on AMC.