‘Fear The Walking Dead’: If Alejandro Is Immune, Could Nick And Rick Also Be Immune?

Episode 9 of Season 2 of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead introduced the possibility of immunity to the infected by way of newcomer Alejandro. If he really is immune, could others also be?

Spoiler alert: This article discusses AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead as well as its companion program, The Walking Dead and the comic books the show is based on. Please proceed with caution if you wish to avoid spoilers.

In Episode 9 of Fear the Walking Dead, Luciana (Danay Garcia) revealed to Nick Clark (Frank Dillane) that Alejandro (Paul Calderon) had survived being bitten by the infected without turning. While there is good reason to suggest both Luciana and, especially, Alejandro are lying about his immunity in order to create a mythology that will protect them, let’s have a look at the possibility that some people might actually be immune to the infected in both Fear the Walking Dead and its companion program, The Walking Dead.

From the Walking Deaduniverse, fans know that a bite from the infected will turn a person. The bite will cause a massive infection that will kill the person. We also know that everyone is infected, so once a person dies, they will reanimate. Season 1 taught us via Dr. Jenner (Noah Emmerich) that when a person dies in the Walking Deaduniverse, the virus triggers a section of their brain to reanimate. Only a certain part of the brain will come back to life and that is why the reanimated infected are senseless and not the person they once were.

However, one thing we do know from everyday science is that regardless of illness, there is always a very small percentage of the world’s population that is either immune to the infection or the illness is not deadly to them. If this is the case, then, surely, there must be some people in the Walking Dead — and Fear the Walking Dead — universe that are either immune or not able to die from the virus? Fans of The Walking Dead have talked about this theory often on sites such as Reddit, but the gist of it is that it is possible that those with immunity in the Walking Dead universe would reanimate entirely upon death. Rather than the virus just reanimating a certain section of the brain, it would reanimate the entire brain.

The main character this theory has been applied to is Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) in The Walking Dead. After all, he survived both a coma and fairly severe injuries after the battle at the prison. At one point, his son, Carl (Chandler Riggs), even thought Rick had died. Yet, he is still alive. It is miraculous that he could survive two such incidents in a world where there is no longer electricity or reliable sanitation.

If this immunity theory is correct, when Alejandro was bitten by the infected, his bite would have killed him just like it would for others; however, his brain would reanimate in entirety and he would return to normal like he had never died at all. This would work very well with the rules of the death cult he is currently a member of in Tijuana. In fact, he could have very easily used his miraculous survival as the reason to implement the rules of his death cult.

With this theory in mind, one Fear the Walking Dead viewer suggested that Nick Clark was also immune to the zombie virus.

@mrszoomby When he zonked out with Gloria she ODed: that’s a fact. But why didn’t she eat him while he was out? He was right there.

— Cassidy Frazee (@CGFrazee) August 30, 2016

The Season 2 return of Fear the Walking Deadshowed some backstory into Nick and Gloria’s (Lexi Johnson) life before he woke up and found a reanimated Gloria. What we know from this flashback is that Nick prepared the drugs that made Gloria overdose, so could Nick have overdosed as well? After all, it seems strange that Nick and Gloria took drugs together, then she overdosed and he didn’t. But, if Nick did die as well, when Gloria reanimated (and we’re presuming she was next to him when this happened), why didn’t she consume Nick, the tasty human snack conveniently passed out next to her? Could Nick have been dead and not yet reanimated when this happened, therefore, Gloria assumed he was just like her and moved on to look for someone else to eat? At some point after that, could Nick have reanimated fully thanks to his potential immunity?

Another thing Cassidy Frazee points out is that Nick has been donning his infected blood camouflage in a landscape that is entirely different to that of the landscape fans are used to in The Walking Dead. In Georgia, it is hot and humid. Walker blood stays wet there. However, in the drier heat of Mexico, wouldn’t that blood dry right out and, therefore, become less pungent to the infected? If so, the infected should be able to smell his “humanness.” If this is the case, has Nick been walking around using blood as a camouflage without necessity?

Yet another reason to believe a small percentage of those in the Walking Dead universe is immune to the virus, or have a mutated form of it, is shown in the comics the TV series is based on. In recent comics, Negan has used weapons such as arrows tainted with walker blood in an effort to turn people if they were not killed outright. During this time, Rick gets shot with a crossbow. While the injury is not substantial enough to kill him, he is hit with a tainted arrow. Yet, he never turns.

What do you think of this theory about immunity in Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead? Let us know your thoughts and theories by commenting below.

Season 2 of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead returns Sunday, September 4, with Episode 10 (entitled “Do Not Disturb”) at 9 p.m. ET.

The official synopsis for Episode 10 of Fear the Walking Dead is below.

“Travis struggles to connect with Chris while searching for shelter. Meanwhile, Alicia meets a lonely woman with a bloody past.”