Theory: We already met the Helicopter People on Fear the Walking Dead

The Troy Otto Connection

After the whispers that Troy Otto (Daniel Sharman) was going to somehow make an appearance in season 5, it stands to reason that his people might have reclaimed the military base from the dead and started to rebuild in earnest. Enough time has passed between 301 and 505 for their mission to be one of defense from the dead to one of rebuilding, which seems to be the modus operandi of Isabelle’s people.

Incidentally, if the military base is indeed part of the Helicopter People’s origins, then it makes a cameo from Sharman, perhaps in a flashback, even more plausible.

So what does this all mean? It means that we could have seen the Helicopter People already, without knowing about their ties to the larger Walking Dead universe. It’s even possible that the showrunners didn’t know how this would all fit together at that point, but the foundation was laid and now they’re building the story around it.

Now that we have met one of the Helicopter People, let’s hope that we learn more in upcoming episodes of both Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead. Don’t be surprised if we see some familiar faces as we learn more about them. And if we’re really lucky we’ll learn more at San Diego Comic-Con too.

Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9pm on AMC.