Fear the Walking Dead: Newcomer Sahana Srinivasan

Fear the Walking Dead gave us an extremely emotional episode with “In Dreams” this week. The episode focused on Grace (Karen David) and a dream world she experiences while in labor with her child. During this dream, we meet a newcomer Athena (Sahana Srinivasan). She carries a staff and expertly uses it to take down walkers. Where have we seen that before?

She is a beautiful young lady who comes to Grace’s aid, and she takes Grace to her home. This happens to be the community Morgan was creating, Valley Town, but this is farther in the future, and the community is thriving. We also notice that Grace is no longer pregnant in these scenes.

As the episode plays out, we discover Athena is Grace’s child. She has been raised by Morgan and the members of the community. There is a grave marker with Grace’s name on it. This makes us all assume Grace died in childbirth. As the episode progresses, we see a beautiful friendship evolve between Athena and Grace that ends in a dramatic tragedy.

Both Srinivasan and David did an amazing job in this episode.

Who is Sahana Srinivasan, and what other projects can you see her in?

Srinivasan made her Walking Dead franchise acting debut in the most recent episode of Fear the Walking Dead, but this isn’t her first acting gig.  In 2013 she starred in the family adventure film Space Warriors. 

But, she is most known for her role as the host of the Netflix documentary Brainchild. The series is produced by Pharrell Williams and consists of one season available to stream on Netflix. In an article from Dallas Observer, they dubbed Srinivasan “a hipper, more accessible Bill Nye for the digital generation.” The series focuses on interesting, audience-captivating science projects.

In the interview with the Dallas Observer, she had this to say about hosting Brainchild.

"“I think Brainchild does a great job of that because having an Indian woman host is great because people just aren’t used to seeing something like that”"

She studied film production at the University of Texas at Austin and produces her own short films and music videos. She’s also a stand-up comedian who never shied away from open mic nights to hone her skill. She was the opening act for Ari Shaffir at Cap City Comedy Club in Austin.

Being able to represent her culture to a wide audience was important to her. She received positive praise from other Indian girls who were excited to themselves represented in a TV series.

Best of luck to Sahana Srinivasan in all her endeavors.

Fear the Walking Dead returns to AMC on May 16 with the next episode of season six.

AMC+ viewers can stream this episode on May 13.