Fear the Walking Dead missing children could be at PADRE
By Renee Hansen
Season 5 of Fear the Walking Dead introduced a group of children, including Annie (Bailey Gavulic) and her brothers Dylan (Cooper Dodson) and Max (Ethan Suess). They were part of a group of children orphaned after the outbreak. They encountered Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey), Morgan (Lennie James), and the other survivors after the plane crash, but the children were never seen again after that season.
The children and their families lived at Camp Cackleberry, converted into a haven for survivors after the outbreak. A dozen or more families lived quite comfortably, considering the situation. After a supply run, someone got careless, and some walkers followed them back to the community, and it was overrun. The children took shelter during the attack and after three days, when none of the adults returned, Annie set out to find out what happened.
The walkers were all killed and the bodies burnt but what wasn’t known until it was too late was that they were radioactive, and burning them released the radiation into the air causing the adults radiation sickness. The parents wouldn’t allow their children near the cabins they barricaded themselves in, requiring Annie and the other children to leave the camp.
Fear the Walking Dead – Padre
From this point on, there will be spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead’s season 7 finale, “Gone.”
Fear the Walking Dead’s season 7 finale, “Gone,” finally sheds some light on the mysterious PADRE. A place that has long been sought out as a place of refuge might not be all that people made it out to be. It was revealed that PADRE is in the market of stealing children and raising them. It isn’t clear what they are raising them for, many fans have long thought PADRE could be involved with the Civic Republic, so perhaps they are raising them for soldiers or some other purpose for that organization.
“Gone” also marked the return of Madison Clark (Kim Dickens), and she has been working for PADRE for quite some time as one of the collectors of children. This brought a thought to mind, Annie, her siblings, and the other children, who no one has seen for quite some time, could Madison have met them before the nuke was detonated and taken them to PADRE?
The last time we saw Annie and her brothers, they were split up into Virginia’s (Colby Minifie) settlements, so with Annie’s survival skills, they could have easier slipped away unnoticed. If they encountered Madison, she would have made PADRE seem to be an idyllic place for them to live.
The reality is that the child actors couldn’t be a part of the series during the pandemic. But, now that some of them are doing new jobs, perhaps they could be brought back in season 8 when viewers will see more of PADRE and what goes on there. It would be a great storyline and an excellent way to explain the sudden disappearance of this group. The Walking Dead Universe has a way of dropping characters without explanation, and fans tire of this practice.
Follow Undead Walking on Twitter and sign up for the once-daily Undead Walking newsletter to avoid missing out on all things in The Walking Dead universe.