‘Fear The Walking Dead’s Kim Dickens On Norman Reedus: ‘He Did Not Lick My Face’

On the eve of the Fear the Walking Dead premiere, Entertainment Weekly caught up with Kim Dickens, who plays Madison Clark in the companion series, and asked for her insight on being a member of The Walking Dead universe. Dickens first spoke about meeting the stars of the original series.

“It was really great. They were so supportive and excited for us, and they were just so gracious. They really embraced us, and we got to hang out for the evening with them, and yeah, they talked about their experience, and they’re so in love with their show. They have the greatest time,” the Fear the Walking Dead actress said. “They really love it. They love their fans, and like I said, they were just so generous to us and just really cheered us on. It was pretty cool. They’re such great people. It was really fun to be with them.”

Kim said she was aware that sometimes the fan-favorite star of The Walking Dead, Norman Reedus, would lick the faces of the people he meets. It’s his own quirky little habit, but Dickens said she wasn’t initiated.

“He did not. He did not lick my face, but hopefully that will happen in the future.”

Many of the 10 million plus viewers of the premiere episode must have rolled their eyes at Dickens’ character, as she gave Tobias (Lincoln A. Castellanos) the “trust the system” speech. Under normal circumstances, it’s questionable advice at best, but in the situation presented in Fear the Walking Dead, it seemed imminently hazardous and even Kim recognized that it was not the best advice.

“I think what Madison’s also doing in those scenes with Tobias is being a counselor and also taking care of him,” said Kim Dickens. “I mean, his fears are rampant and paranoid, and he’s scared, and I know this kid is someone who doesn’t have the most stable home life as well, and it is an effort to alleviate his worries and his concerns and also to rely on what we know as the truth in our society, which is that, you know, we will be taken care of. There are organizations in place, you know?”

In a discussion with The Huffington Post, Dickens was asked to elaborate on one of the final scenes in the pilot episode of Fear the Walking Dead, in which Madison fought off a zombie and viewers were left questioning whether or not she came away unscathed.

“It doesn’t appear that my character gets bitten. That’s for sure,” Kim suggested. “There’s definitely scuffling, as our characters are certainly naïve of the dangers of what exactly is going on. So we get dangerously close to them.”

Fear the Walking Dead returns Sunday, August 30 on AMC.

[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]