The New ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Family: Will Madison Be Better Or Worse Than Lori?


Finally, Walking Dead fans have some information on its companion show, Fear the Walking Dead! Robert Kirkman recently gave his most informative interview on the new show to date. According to him, there will be a love/hate relationship between the core family’s siblings, Alicia and Nick. EW also released some new promotional stills from Fear the Walking Dead to go along with the interview, which you can view in the slideshow below.

Alicia (played by Alycia Debnam-Carey) is the perfect child in Fear the Walking Dead. She is doing well at school and has a bright future ahead of her. Her brother Nick (played by Frank Dillane) is the complete opposite. He has gotten in with the wrong crowd, and as a result, has made some pretty bad decisions. While the siblings love each other, there is still the idea that they can’t stand each other either.

“We’ve got Nick—who is played by Frank Dillane—who is pretty much a parent’s worst nightmare. He has flunked out of college, had a lot of trouble, got mixed up in some bad elements, and is definitely the problem child. And it’s exacerbated for him to be next to this perfect sister who seemingly doesn’t have anything going on in her life that is negative. But that’s not really the case, that’s just his perception. So you have these two siblings that are very much at odds with each other. They love each other because they are brother and sister, but to a certain extent it’s almost like they are each other’s worst enemies because one is screwing things up while she’s trying to achieve things and get on to the college, and the other one is seeing her as this reminder of everything that he can’t be. So it’s an interesting dynamic.”

On top of this complex dynamic in Fear the Walking Dead, we also discover that Alicia has a boyfriend called Matt (Maestro Harrell, known for his role in The Wire). While little is known about this new character, it will certainly be interesting to see how their relationship is maintained when the outbreak occurs. Considering Matt has not yet even been added to the Fear the Walking Dead IMDb page, it will be interesting to see just how long this character even lasts — perhaps he becomes infected? How would Alicia cope with that? Will she even know he is a deadly threat? Only time will tell.

Robert Kirkman also opened up about the new Fear the Walking Dead mom, Madison (Kim Dickens). Fans are already starting to wonder just how Madison will fare in the mothering stakes compared to the often hated Lori from The Walking Dead. However, it seems Madison might be better than Lori, considering her husband had died and she was left to raise her children alone. Lori, while she loved her husband and child, was often a weaker character when it came to fighting walkers. It also seems like Kirkman has tried to make Madison more of a positive female role model in Fear the Walking Dead — perhaps as a result of fans not liking Lori much at all.

“I think Kim has shown that if you want to have a strong female character, a no-nonsense strong character —but with a lot of warmth, because its hard sometimes to find an actress that can have those two things and can be this leader and also have this warmth and this kindness to her—that’s something that Kim is very capable of.”

Robert Kirkman also expressed his opinion on Madison’s boyfriend in Fear the Walking Dead. According to Kirkman, Travis offers a “sense of stability in Madison’s life, and so he’s really 100 percent on board.” While Kirkman hinted at a dark past for Travis, he is also very much Madison’s rock — even if there are problems between Travis and his ex-wife, Lisa.

“There are some interesting revelations to come with him, I’ll just say that. He is finding himself torn between Liza, his ex-wife, and Madison.”

It will be interesting to see how this relationship plays out in Fear the Walking Dead. Could we see a triangle not unlike what happened between Rick Grimes, his wife Lori, and his friend Shane in Season 1 and 2 of The Walking Dead? If Travis and Madison are separated during the outbreak and he comes in contact with his ex-wife, things could very well step into this direction. Although, as showrunner Dave Erickson pointed out to TV Line recently, they will be aiming to avoid “repetitive plots,” so it is unlikely we will see this happen in the first season of Fear the Walking Dead.

AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead will premiere in August 2015.

What do you think? Will Madison be a better parent than Lori? Does this new family in Fear the Walking Dead appeal to you? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below!

[Images credits: AMC / Justin Lubin]

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