Who is Charlie in Fear the Walking Dead?

Alexa Nisenson portrays Charlie in Fear the Walking Dead. Introduced in season 4, Charlie was a young girl whom Madison (Kim Dickens) and her son Nick (Frank Dillane) welcomed into the community they were establishing at the Dell Diamond Stadium.

Charlie, an orphan, was raised by brothers Ennis (Evan Gamble) and Mel (Kevin Zegers), leaders of the Vultures, a group that terrorized Madison’s group. Believing she was alone, Madison and Nick brought her to the new settlement but discovered she was a spy planted by the Vultures who wanted the supplies at the Dell Diamond.

She was a traumatized young girl who witnessed the deaths and transformation of her parents into walkers. A quiet girl, she would start to become friends with Nick until he killed Ennis as she looked on. She ends up shooting Nick in the chest, an action she would initially feel sad about, but then runs away before anyone can find out what she did.

This article contains spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead season 8, episode 8, “Iron Tiger.”

Fear the Walking Dead – Charlie

Jump ahead to season 7 of Fear the Walking Dead; Charlie was exposed to radiation and became very ill. June (Jeanna Elfman) took excellent care of her, but there was only so much she could do with limited medical supplies. By the season finale, it appeared that Charlie wouldn’t survive. She was last seen traveling by raft away from Texas with the other survivors.

Daniel (Ruben Blades) mentions Charlie in part 1 of season 8, and it appears she may have died. It seemed a disservice to the character to mention her death this way.

In the season 8 episode  “Iron Tiger,” Charlie appears, working with Luciana (Danay Garcia). PADRE took her in and gave her the medical care she needed. But she had another daunting task: telling Madison who killed her son.

This enraged Madison, understandably, but instead of exacting revenge, she had a task for Charlie. She wants Charlie to kill Troy Otto (Daniel Sharman), telling her she took the stadium from her and her son and it is the least she can do. Things go south, and Troy gets the upper hand. In order to protect PADRE, the project Alicia dreamed of, and to make Nick’s death mean something, Charlie kills herself so that Troy loses his leverage.

It seems strange to bring her back just to kill her, but Charlie did what she believed was the right thing to do. Daniel’s reaction was heartbreaking, as he loved Charlie like a daughter.

Bravo to Alexa Nisenson for her portrayal of Charlie, a difficult role for a young girl to take on as the character was always underscrutany for her actions. In June 2023 Nisenson chatted with Undead Walking in a great interview about Charlie. Read it here.

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