What’s next for Fear the Walking Dead survivor Althea?

Season 4B of Fear the Walking Dead is only a few weeks away, so what’s Althea’s story?

Of the new faces added to the first half of Season 4, we know the least about Althea. Since introducing herself, Althea has managed to dodge questions about her own past while quietly collecting data about everyone else. Her ability to coax personal information out of complete strangers may actually be one of her greatest assets. Trust is a commodity in the new world that comes in short supply and Althea’s collection of stories represents a feat of survival in itself. After all, asking too many questions can arouse suspicions and once that happens, things can go badly and escalate quickly.

Uniquely qualified

And yet, there remain so many unanswered questions about Althea. For example: Where did she get the armored S.W.A.T. vehicle? This rolling fortress also sports deadly customizations that haven’t really been explained yet either. At the pull of a lever, multiple automatic weapons are rigged to fire simultaneously, and over a wide and unfortunate area. Did Althea engineer all of this herself?

She is described as uniquely qualified to survive in this world thanks to her pre-apocalypse experiences, but what exactly did she do? According to her, she was a journalist before the outbreak. While interviewing Madison after the dam explosion, she spoke of an assignment in a remote village that had been subjugated by a warlord, so Althea’s probably no stranger to danger zones.

Her current mission is to document survival stories – but she prefers to stay squarely on the sidelines. When the final battle broke out between Alicia’s group and the Vultures, Althea stood watch, camera in hand. When John Dorie lay bleeding on the ground she refused to step in to help, insisting she was only there to document “the story”. After Morgan pleaded with her, she finally agreed to transport them to safety, but her pursuit of a story almost left John for dead.

Then there are the mysterious “Bog” tapes. In Episode 3, Althea let out a huge sigh of relief to see that her tapes, labeled “The Bog”, had not gone missing from the van. Clearly, the Bog tapes have some special value to her, but we still don’t know why. Is it a place? Was it a series of events? There’s definitely more of that story to be told and perhaps (hopefully!) it is one of the things we’ll learn more about in 4B.

What’s next?

The season 4B trailer released at San Diego Comic-con revealed a little about Althea’s future, and it doesn’t look like smooth sailing ahead. As expected she will be facing hordes of walkers, a few new faces, and Mother Nature. A powerful storm features heavily throughout the trailer and in one scene, Althea appears to be caught in the middle of it. There are also a few shots of her with June, both in and out of danger. At one point, they appear to have been scavenging for survival supplies before running into trouble with a horde.

Redemption

Near the end of the trailer, Althea says “Yesterday is yesterday, today is today”, shortly before the word “Redemption” flashes across the screen. And redemption could easily be the predominant theme in 4B. While Charlie gets the prize for “most redeeming to do”, June must also reconcile past deceptions. Morgan hopes that readopting Eastman’s teachings will purge his lingering demons, and Alicia just came back from the brink of nearly killing most of them during the revenge spree she unleashed on the Vultures.

It’s no secret that Althea has been hiding details about herself and everyone has done things they’re not proud of to survive. Could Althea be seeking redemption for her own dark past?

Find out when Fear the Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, August 12.