Fear the Walking Dead: Omid Abtahi portrays Howard in the series
By Renee Hansen
In season 6 of Fear the Walking Dead, viewers are introduced to Howard, a former history professor at the University of Texas. In season 7, he has taken on a new persona and a new profession. Omid Abtahi is the actor who portrays this character and has done an outstanding job during his transformation from history professor to Victor Strand’s (Colman Domingo) henchman.
After the outbreak, Howard lost his wife and created a shelter in a high-rise building in Houston. He used a wall of walkers to keep others out and began acquiring historical artifacts to preserve for the future.
When cultist Teddy Maddox (John Glover) launches the nuclear bombs, Strand arrives at Howard’s building, and the pair wait out the blast, overjoyed to discover it was outside of the blast zone. The pair then create a new community, the Tower, where they decide who is suitable to become a resident.
Fear the Walking Dead – Howard
When Howard is first introduced, he appears to be quiet and reserved. Still, when season 7 begins, with the Tower established and thriving, he has become more assertive and eventually has become rather ruthless. Is this Strand’s influence, or is this the man he has always been?
In the first half of season 7, Howard has established himself as Strand’s right hand doing his bidding. He doesn’t hesitate at anything Strand requests of him or even flinches when Strand throws people off the Tower roof. He effortlessly captures Dwight (Austin Amelio) and Sherry (Christine Evangelista) and any other task asked of him.
In the second half of season 7, we first see him in the episode “Mourning Cloak.” Strand is absent from this episode, and Howard looks quite cozy as he takes charge in Strand’s absence. Throughout this episode, he makes decisions but follows up with “Ultimately, it’s up to Strand” or something similar. He doesn’t hesitate to throw Ali off the roof when he betrays them and heads straight for Charlie immediately after. If it wasn’t for June’s intervention, he would have gotten rid of Charlie as well.
For someone to fall so easily into this new life, it makes one curious about his past.
Fear the Walking Dead – Omid Abtahi
Omid Abtahi was recently cast in a new role along with fellow TWDU actor Nico Tortorella (Walking Dead: World Beyond) for the Apple TV drama City on Fire.
Abtahi has had many memorable roles during his career, including American Gods, Fast & Furious Spy Racers, The Mandalorian, Love, Death & Robots, Shameless, Damien, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and Better Call Saul.
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