Fear the Walking Dead: AMC kept Madison Clark's return a secret for nearly a whole year

Kim Dickens stars as Madison Clark, as seen in Episode 11 of AMC's Fear the Walking Dead Season 2 — Kim Dickens stars as Madison Clark, as seen in Episode 11 of Fear the Walking Dead Season 2. Pic credit: AMC/Richard Foreman Jr.

On Sunday night, fans of Fear the Walking Dead were delivered some pretty exciting news: Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) is not dead.

Since her apparent “demise” in Season 4 of the TV show, viewers have continued to speculate about whether or not the character really died. This was because although Madison seemed to be placed in an apparent dead-end situation, her demise was never actually shown on screen.

And, as is the way with The Walking Dead universe, if you don’t see the character perish, chances are, they will turn up again at some point in the series.

So, how did the network keep this a secret?

Madison Clark will be returning to Fear the Walking Dead

Along with the exciting news of her return, it was also revealed that Madison would show up in the second half of Season 7, which will premiere on April 17.

As of yet, it is unclear exactly when Madison will return in Season 7B. However, she is billed as a series regular in Season 8.

During a conversation on Talking Dead, Kim Dickens explained how this all came about, according to Den of Geek.

“So, we all talked, [showrunners] Ian [Goldberg], Andrew [Chambliss], [Walking Dead chief content officer] Scott [Gimple], and I Zoomed [in] early-January,” Dickens explained. “They gave me their pitch and I was more excited than I even imagined I would be.”

If this occurred back in January, that means that this whole secret has been kept under wraps for nearly a year. Although, unofficially, the concept was pitched to Dickens earlier than that.

Kim Dickens as Madison Clark and Colman Domingo as Victor Strand, as seen in Episode 9 of AMC's Fear the Walking Dead Season 2 — Kim Dickens as Madison Clark and Colman Domingo as Victor Strand, as seen in Episode 9 of Fear the Walking Dead Season 2. Pic credit: AMC/Richard Foreman Jr.

Kim Dickens had to keep a huge secret

“I’ve had the secret, I think probably since this whole year,” Dickens said.

“The end of the last year, I get a text from Colman [Domingo, who plays Victor Strand], who was on set, and it said ‘Girl, you need to call me.’ So, I called him, and he was on set, and I said ‘Why, what’s going on?’ and he goes ‘Someone was asking about you on set,’ and I was like, ‘Why are they asking about me?’ So, it turns out they were trying to gauge my temperature and sort of availability for a conversation with them, and I said ‘absolutely.’”

Dickens has always been a big fan of her character in Fear the Walking Dead. When Madison was cut from the show in Season 4, she voiced her displeasure about how she felt the storyline could have continued further in the TV series.

However, over the years, she has also noted that she would be happy to return if the situation should arise.

And, thankfully, it has.

The actor also spoke about how she recently clued in on the first half of Season 7 of Fear and how excited she was to be returning at this point in time.

“It’s going to be fun to go back and work with all the new characters and find out what’s happened,” Dickens revealed to Talking Dead.

Season 7 of Fear the Walking Dead will return to AMC on Sunday, April 17, 2022.