Fear The Walking Dead Theory: Where’s Daniel?

In the trailers for the second half of season two of Fear The Walking Dead, we’ve seen every member of The Group…except Daniel. WHERE is he?!

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every new trailer for Fear The Walking Dead since San Diego Comic Con. I’ve seen Nick wandering alone with the infected, Travis and Chris in their adventures, and Madison, Strand, Ofelia, and Alicia arriving at the hotel, hell, we even catch a glimpse of Sofia, one of Celia’s devotees.

The one person I haven’t seen in all of those? …Daniel.

Daniel is nowhere to be found.

Where is he? What’s happened to him? Is he still alive?

Honestly…I don’t know, but, I have a few theories as to what his fate might have been.

Theory #1: Daniel is DEAD.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: The last we saw of Daniel, he was having hallucinations of Griselda and was simply standing there, looking very at peace, as he set the hacienda on fire. It doesn’t take a genius to deduce what most likely happened.

In the state that he was in, it certainly would have been tough for Daniel to make his way out of the hacienda and away from the grounds.

He would have had to contend with fire and smoke burning and choking him, his hallucinations, which, let’s be honest, God only knows what they might have been telling him after he carried out his plan, or how seriously they might be effecting him.

And, of course, there were the dozens of infected Celia had been keeping. We saw a lot as Nick walked away, but, how many more were there? I’m guessing enough to make any attempt to escape an extremely difficult prospect for Daniel, maybe even such that he couldn’t overcome it.

Theory #2: Daniel is still at the hacienda.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Dave Erickson said outright that we have not seen the last of Daniel, owing to the fact that we didn’t actually see him die.

Along with, possibly, blowing up my first theory (Though Dave’s cagey wording “…this is not the last we see of Daniel Salazar.” could just as easily support it), it does bring us back to our original question: Where is he?

The most obvious answer is: Still somewhere in the compound.

While Daniel certainly torched much of the hacienda, as you can see in the picture of it burning above, not all of it is en fuego, meaning Daniel could be hiding out on the ground somewhere, trying to stay out of sight of the infected, or searching for Ofelia.

And, speaking of which…

Theory #3: Daniel is out searching for Ofelia.

In the event Daniel isn’t still at the hacienda, there is only one other possibility as to where he is: Out looking for The Group or, at least, Ofelia.

Now, granted, this covers a lot of ground: He could be following Strand and the ladies in the truck, he could have spotted Nick and is trying to follow him, he could be following the trail of Travis and Chris, Hell, he may have even gone back to the boat!

Whatever the case may be, if he makes a triumphant return in season three and is alive when he does so, we may be fortunate enough to be given a flashback, maybe even a whole episode, showing us what happened to him from the time he set the hacienda on fire until he reunited with whatever group member(s) he catches up to.

Who might he encounter? Will he still have hallucinations? Will he be changed by what happened? Who knows?

Next: Fear The Walking Dead Theory: Zombabies?

All I know is that I want to see him back, he is, easily, the most badass character in all of Fear The Walking Dead, and sadness would ensue without him.

And that concludes our Fear The Walking Dead Theory for today. Do you agree? Disagree? Do you think Daniel’s alive? Or do you think Dave Erickson’s trying to be clever with us? Let me know! And, if you like this and want to read more of my writings, specifically about how to survive a zombie apocalypse, why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can get it on Kindle here and on iTunes here!