The Season 6 finale of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead saw many characters clamoring for safety as they tried to avoid the fallout from a nuclear missile blast.
While some instances of shelter seemed plausible as ways to stay safe during the explosion, others seemed a little far-fetched.
So, how likely is it that those who witnessed the blast also survived it?
Morgan and Grace were exposed during the blast
The most obvious characters who might die when Fear the Walking Dead returns for the seventh season are Morgan Jones (Lennie James), Grace (Karen David), and Little Morgan.
They hid under a truck when the initial explosion occurred and then came out into the open and witnessed another blast.
To varying degrees, people have also questioned Strand (Colman Domingo) and Howard (Omid Abtahi) watching the explosion through a window.
How effective would a storm shelter be for Sherry (Christine Evangelista) and Dwight (Austin Amelio)?
Understanding nuclear fallout
According to Fear the Walking Dead’s showrunners, Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, it is a matter of location for how these characters will survive.
In an interview with Insider, they revealed that while Dakota (Zoe Colletti) died when she opted to stay outside during the blast, Morgan and Grace survived.
“Those warheads are going off at different places in the landscape and characters’ proximity to them is different,” Goldberg explained.
This means that while Dakota was very close to the explosion, Morgan and Grace were much further away.
However, whether they survive the resultant nuclear fallout remains to be seen.
According to Vice, who delved into whether people can survive nuclear fallout, there are six stages to a nuclear blast.
These stages are the initial “flash of light, a wave of heat, a release of nuclear radiation, a fireball, a blast of air, and finally the radioactive fallout.”
So, for Morgan and Grace, they saw the first five stages of the blast.
Ready.com also gives a detailed description of these stages and reveals that nuclear fallout can occur at least 15 minutes after the initial blast as it has to fall to the ground from the mushroom plume of the initial explosion.
So, should Morgan and Grace get into the submarine or travel to another location, they might actually survive the explosion.
The website also details ways in which people can avoid contamination should they be near a nuclear explosion.
The most important part is that, so long as you are far enough away to avoid Dakota’s situation, heading indoors is your safest bet.
They suggest a brick or concrete building as the best options. So, Victor’s building seems secure, as did the cellar that Sherry and Dwight entered.
If people have been outside during the blast, it is super important that they remove all contaminated clothing and discard it before scrubbing their bodies in a shower.
This may not be possible for Sherry and Dwight if some of that fallout filters through to their cellar. However, if they can block any gaps at the doorway before the fallout hits, they might be okay.
However, the submarine might have usable showers for Morgan and Grace.
Whether Victor and Howard will be safe after watching the explosion through a window remains to be seen.
While they were far enough away to survive the blast, and being in the building protected from fallout, it is possible they could get sick because of radiation exposure through the glass.
According to commentary undertaken on Research Gate, radiation can pass through glass unless it has a significant coating of lead on it.
Viewers will have to wait until Fear the Walking Dead returns to find out just how much trouble these characters are in.
Fear the Walking Dead has been renewed by AMC for a seventh season but, as yet, no release date has officially been announced.