‘Fear The Walking Dead’: Kim Dickens Envisioned A Different Death For Madison

Though Madison died a hero in the midseason finale of AMC’s “Fear the Walking Dead,” series star Kim Dickens said that the way the Clark matriarch met her demise was not what she envisioned for the character.

In an interview with TV Guide, Dickens said that showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg had already decided how Madison’s journey would end before the actress learned their plans for her character.

“You know, when I went in and met with the showrunners and the producer and they told me the changes they saw and the arc they wanted to play out and that the first half of the season would end with Madison’s demise, it was written. It’s ultimately up to the producers and the writers. It was a shock and a huge disappointment to me. But it was already laid out,” said Dickens when asked if she’s satisfied with how Madison’s final moment came together on the show.

“I felt like Madison had more stories to tell and more roads to travel,” the 52-year-old actress continued. “She could have gone in crazy directions. She could have become a villain. I was ready to do anything to go further and deeper with her. So was I satisfied with the story? I thought her demise was a beautiful sacrificial moment, but I would have envisioned a different death. I thought the episode in that moment was beautiful. I did. But it surprised me that that’s the way it happened.”

When asked if she tried to plead Madison’s case, Dickens told The Hollywood Reporter: “I obviously let them know what I felt. It wasn’t about my fighting for the character or not fighting for the character, because obviously I fought for the character on a daily basis. [But] it was pretty much decided. They had gone through all of their channels and breaking the season. I wasn’t asked early on: ‘How would you feel if this is the way it would go?’”

Though Dickens has been vocal about her disappointment over Madison’s death, the “Deadwood” alum understands the showrunners’ decision to kill her character off. “That’s the fate that befalls so many of the characters in this genre,” Dickens told Entertainment Weekly. “Basically, the message is, no one’s safe. And these kinds of deaths will ultimately propel the story of the other characters into other places. It’s part of the genre, it’s part of the storytelling device, and I just have to wrap my head around it.”

“Fear the Walking Dead” will resume its fourth-season run on Sunday, Aug. 12 at 9 p.m. EDT on AMC.