The Walking Dead is no longer just a show, it's a whole franchise. AMC's juggernaut post-apocalyptic series based on the Robert Kirkman graphic novels has endured over the years, capitalizing on its devoted, long-lasting fandom to live on even after the original show came to a conclusion. And those devoted fans fell head over heels in love with all of the characters within that franchise - whether it be original spinoff Fear The Walking Dead or the new ones like Dead City, Daryl Dixon or The Ones Who Live, the fans were tuning in.
However, the AMC franchise could alienate its fans - and it has done so many times through the years. There is no doubt about it: The Walking Dead has made a lot of mistakes through the decade and a half that it's been in existence; and we're not just talking about the original show!
On that note, let's reflect on the biggest of all mistakes that the TWD Universe has made - a mistake that ended up upending the originality of one of the franchise's most beloved shows.
Moving Morgan to Fear The Walking Dead was a very bad idea
Morgan Jones was undoubtedly one of the most intriguing characters in the TWD Universe in those first few years of the franchise's existence. This lone wolf who was both good at heart and very troubled was something of a wild card and Lennie James portrayed this duality of the character to perfection. That being said, Morgan was at his best when he was a recurring presence; someone we could look forward to seeing whenever he was out there in the world surviving on his own. This is what made those eventual returns and cameos all the more thrilling whenever they happened. From a distance, Morgan was the most interesting character on the show.
Unfortunately, the cracks started to reveal themselves whenever viewers got to spend more time with him. Although Lennie James delivered some of the greatest work that The Walking Dead had ever seen, the character's cyclical storylines grew tired and repetitive extremely quickly. The judgmental approach that he took towards Rick and his friends in the beginning of his full-time stint was earned; this wasn't the Rick Grimes that he had become friends with. However, as the character himself began to float in and out of pacifism, it meant that he judged others for doing what it took to protect their loved ones - even if their actions weren't anywhere near as bad as some of the acts he had perpetrated over the years.
Morgan is a great supporting character and the show made him work as a voice of reason, but it also became too reliant on him for that which is what ultimately undercut his character arc. Somewhere along the lines of doing so, the creative team thought it would be a good idea to move him to spinoff Fear The Walking Dead. Better yet, they made him the new lead of the show - and oh boy was that a bad idea.
Fear The Walking Dead was a grower in its early seasons. The cinematic six-episode first season gave viewers an insight into how the world of the TWD Universe descended into its post-apocalyptic era and it did so through the eyes of the Clark family. By the time that it reached its third season, the Clarks were incredibly different people and Fear had developed into a better show than the current seasons of The Walking Dead at the time. Unfortunately, a creative shift at the top meant that the show would become more closely linked to the original TWD series from season 4 onwards. Thus, instead of nourishing the bold, creative storytelling of this gritty prequel, AMC decided to jump years into the future to make it run parallel to TWD. Worst of all, they thought Morgan would be the way to make that happen.
It was disrespectful to Fear The Walking Dead's own legacy
The idea to pair The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead together may have seemed like a good business decision for AMC to capitalize on the high ratings of its predecessor, but in hindsight, it was the worst thing that they could have done. In order to make this "crossover" feasible, it had to rob Fear of all of its own individuality, stripping it of the legacy that it had built. And to do this off the back of the critically-acclaimed third season was downright foolish.
The moment that season 4 premiered, it was clear that there had been a shift; both in terms of story focus and in terms of quality. And yes, there was clearly a connection between those two things. Gone were the wide, Mad Max-esque desert landscapes we had come to expect from Fear's hot, golden aesthetic and in their place were the same dull, gritty roadsides smothered in grain that The Walking Dead had already exhausted. Gone was the family dynamic we had come to expect from the now-hardened Clark family that had once struggled with their morally questionable actions. And, most importantly, gone were the interesting, layered characters this show once offered us.
In its place was Morgan. Same old Morgan. The character had abandoned his TWD family to go on a journey of self-exploration that was undoubtedly going to lead him back to judging others and spreading unsolicited advice. Again, this could have worked (in small doses) if he was introduced as a supporting character. But no; his introduction brought with it a clear message from the new creative team: TWD > Fear TWD. And as such, there was no debate: Morgan Jones was the new lead of the show.
To further drive the disrespectful point home, Madison Clark had to go. As a result, beloved leading lady Kim Dickens was written out of the show when Madison seemingly sacrificed herself to save her family. It was a death that felt in line with who the character was (Madison was always going to protect her family) but it was never enough to justify the fact that the show would have to go on without her. Worse yet, it had to go on with Morgan.
Season 4 was a divisive one because the first half, which retroactively told the story of Madison's demise, was actually really good. The second, which went all in on Morgan and the lacklustre new characters he picked up along the way, was reviled as the gang found themselves at the mercy of a strange woman who was stalking them on the walkie talkies they were using. Couldn't they just drive out of range, leave Texas and let her fade into obscurity? The death of Nick Clark, Madison's son, early on also made fans tune out. Yes, it was actor Frank Dillane's choice to leave the show - but to "kill off" two Clark family members in the space of a few episodes and leave Nick's killer as a main character on the show? Senseless. Baffling. Disrespectful.
The show proceeded to get worse after that. Its renewed focus on Morgan and the newer characters received constant criticism, with the fifth season widely being regarded as its worst. Although Morgan's decision to turn the hardened, gritty survivors into superheroes was admirable, it meant that the characters had to be stupid so that them and their kindness could constantly be taken advantage of. It wasn't a good story device and it was just another example of how Morgan's approach to surviving a zombie apocalypse was weighing the show down.
Sure, there were silver linings throughout the show's remaining run, particularly Alicia Clark who admittedly did develop into a far stronger character. But the show could have taken advantage of this, making Alicia the lead to carry on the legacy of her mother and brother, but she was constantly competing with Morgan's overbearing presence. And throughout some of her most interesting character arcs, she found herself turning to personality vacuum Morgan for more stupid vague advice.
The wrong was eventually righted... far too late
As Fear The Walking Dead continued to devolve into the shell of a show that it became, fans clung onto hope that Madison Clark's ambiguous death scene was intentionally open-ended, meaning that she could return one day. The creative team said it wasn't, but still fans hoped. And then, three long seasons later, it was announced that Kim Dickens was returning to the show to bring Madison back from the apparent dead.
Dickens returned towards the end of season 7 before re-joining as a series regular for the show's eighth and final season. To say that she quickly brought the screen to life would be an understatement as it was thrilling to see what Madison had been up to in the years since the stadium had burned down. However, the damage had already been done to the show at that point and it was much too hard to come back from.
At this point, Nick was still dead and Alicia was on the verge of leaving the show. The Clark family had been decimated, meaning that Madison was simply coming back to a show centered on Morgan and his lacklustre besties. Yes, Victor Strand and Daniel Salazar were still on the show so she had some connections there, but it still wasn't the same.
The one good thing was that, although Madison and Morgan shared the screen in season 8, there was a decision made to write Morgan out halfway through, meaning that Fear The Walking Dead's rightful lead got to bring the show to its conclusion. But all we could do was sit and think about how we could have been seeing Madison's story throughout the past few years; not Morgan's.
Is it good that Fear ended by bringing Madison back? Yes. Was it great to know that her adventures will continue off-screen? Absolutely. But why did it all have to come at the cost of three seasons without her? There was nothing more interesting about season 5 than what we could have had instead. And the fall of this legendary spinoff will forever be down to the Morgan-focused rebrand.
Morgan had all the potential in the world. Somehow, he still does. But as the lead of Fear The Walking Dead, he simply wasn't interesting enough to warrant the destruction of a show that had just hit new heights before he showed up.
Fear, its fans, and the Clark family deserved better. Heck, Morgan deserved better than this.
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