‘Fear The Walking Dead’: Ruben Blades Discusses Daniel Salazar’s Season 5 Return

Daniel Salazar (Ruben Blades) is a character who has evaded death twice now. In Season 5, viewers will get to see this character appear once more as Fear the Walking Dead returns on Sunday night.

In Season 2 of Fear the Walking Dead, it appeared that Daniel would lose his life after starting a fire in the wine cellar of Celia Flore’s (Marlene Forte) ranch. However, the character turned up in Season 3, only to get a gunshot wound to the face by Victor Strand (Colman Domingo) and was last seen at the dam collapse.

Since then, there has been no news on Daniel, with the main characters assuming he was dead or lost to them. Regardless, Fear‘s showrunners have assured fans that Daniel would return. Now, viewers will get to see how things have changed for Daniel as he is set to return in Season 5 of Fear the Walking Dead.

According to an interview that Ruben Blades did with CBR, the time apart has changed Daniel.

“He has to find a reason to live with his wife dead and his daughter dead and he’s found one,” said Blades.

“Whether that reason is something he’ll have found in the interim between Seasons 3 and 5, or whether he’ll find it by joining Morgan’s ranks, remains to be seen.”

As CBR points out since Season 3 — and Daniel’s last appearance in Fear the Walking Dead — there have been some major changes to the show. Gone is the somber feel and a vast majority of the characters that Daniel will be familiar with. In its place is a group of new people along with those he will still recognize, and with this new group, an entirely different dynamic. Added to this are Morgan’s (Lennie James) appearance and his need to help people, something which may be counterintuitive to Daniel’s character. As a result of this, Daniel may find a hard time fitting in with the new group.

While Daniel will likely struggle somewhat with the new group, as well as having to deal with the likes of Strand, who shot him, Ruben Blades insists the old Daniel is still there.

“Salazar continues to be an ops guy,” Blades revealed about his character in Season 5.

“Salazar is checking everything from the moment he goes in. He doesn’t show up in any place where he doesn’t know where the exit is. That’s the first thing he sees. He’s an ops guy, he’s an intelligence officer, that’s what his mindset is, but he has gone through a lot of changes.”

As for when Daniel will be reintroduced to his previous post-apocalyptic friends in Fear the Walking Dead remains to be seen and viewers will just have to tune into Season 5 to find out more.

Season 5 of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead will premiere on June 2 at 9 p.m.