Can Fear the Walking Dead satisfactorily end series without Alicia’s return?

Die-hard fans of Fear the Walking Dead will stand by the series regardless of what critics or viewers less than pleased with the nuclear wasteland storyline say. These fans will look for the positive when everyone else seems to bash the show. However, most fans could agree they were cheated in season 7 by not receiving the highly anticipated reunion between Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and her long-thought-dead mother, Madison (Kim Dickens). AMC has announced that season 8 will be the last chapter of Fear the Walking Dead. Can the series come to a satisfactory conclusion without the return of Alicia?

Alicia Clark was introduced in the pilot episode of Fear the Walking Dead and was featured until the penultimate episode of season 7. During the seventh season, she was bitten by a walker, forced to amputate her own arm, then battles a mysterious fever for the remainder of her time on the show.

In the second to the last episode of season 7, the survivors, including Victor Strand (Colman Domingo), who had become everyone’s enemy, set out on rafts to escape the nuclear wasteland for a safer place to live. Alicia opted to stay behind and warn anyone who heard her radio call claiming the Tower was a safe place to live as it was, in fact, no longer safe. It was an odd and confusing departure because people would see the Tower in flames, or it would no longer be there, and they would soon figure it out. Regardless, this was how they explained Debnam-Carey’s leaving the series.

Now fans of The Walking Dead universe know very well if there is no dead body, the character can return. So, will Alicia return in season 8 and reunite with her mother? And if not, will this make or break the series finale?

Fear the Walking Dead season 8

While it would be a fantastic reunion to see Alicia and Madison come together after all they have endured while apart. They could mourn the loss of their brother and son Nick (Frank Dillane), who was killed for no good reason, and hopefully live happily ever after.  Fear the Walking Dead can still end on a good note if this doesn’t happen.

The final season of Fear the Walking Dead will experience a seven-year time jump. Even though the survivors will find themselves living under the cynical rule of PADRE, when they come together, they can do great things. And with that can end this story with something amazing.

Showrunners have promised a transformed Strand, which after the things he did in season 7, can only be something positive, and Daniel (Rubén Blades) appears to have regained control of his faculties and is a force to be reckoned with on his own. June (Jenna Elfman) looks locked and loaded and ready to take on anything in her way, while Dwight (Austin Amelia) and Sherry (Christine Evangelista) will have their child to fight for.

Morgan (Lennie James) and Grace (Karen David) have Mo (Zoey Merchant), who, according to the synopsis, holds hope for a better world. This will give them something to fight for. They also have Sarah (Mo Collins), Luciana (Danay Garcia), Wendell (Daryl Mitchell), Jacob (Peter Jacobson), and Josiah (Demetrius Grosse) in their corner. Viewers still don’t know Charlie’s (Alexa Nisenson) fate, but good or bad, soon will.

Fear the Walking Dead can pull off a fantastic final season even without the return of Alicia. However, it would help the series come full circle if she did return to reunite with her mother. Let’s hope they deliver what showrunners have called a reinvention of the series.

Fear the Walking Dead returns to AMC and AMC+ on May 14, 2023, at 9 p.m. ET.

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