‘Fear The Walking Dead’: Rubén Blades Talks Cliff Curtis’ Departure From AMC Series

Rubén Blades revealed that one thing that made his “Fear the Walking Dead” return bittersweet.

In a recent interview with Comicbook.com, Blades said that he’s “very, very, very happy” to come back to the set of the AMC zombie drama because he missed his co-stars “very much.” However, Blades admitted that Cliff Curtis’ departure from the series made his return a little sad.

“I’m so sorry that I can’t see Cliff Curtis every day,” Blades said. “He’s a really great guy. Super actor, but also very nice man. A friend, really nice guy.”

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Curtis’ character, Travis Manawa, was killed off at the beginning of Season 3, episode 2. Travis was shot in the neck after the helicopter he was in received gunfire from an unknown party. Realizing that the situation was dire, he opened up the helicopter door and jumped off from it to avoid endangering his traveling companions, including Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) by turning into one of the infected in mid-air.

While Blades was sad to see Curtis go, the Panamanian singer-actor said that he’s pleased to be working with his other co-stars, both old and new. “I'm glad to be with all the others, with Colman [Domingo] and Mercedes [Mason] and Kim [Dickens] and others, and the new people that are coming in, and meeting [Jeremiah] Otto [actor Dayton Callie] for me was such thrill, because I am a big fan of his. And I found out that he plays saxophone, so he’s also a musician. He was playing around New Jersey at the time that I was playing around New York. Also, Michael [Freeman]...”

Blades’ character, Daniel Salazar, made his surprising return at the end of Season 3, episode 3. In the episode, Victor Strand (Domingo) managed to track the whereabouts of his former colleague, Dante Esquivel (Jason Manuel Olazabal), who now runs a dam. Strand and Dante — who were both businessmen — did work together prior to the apocalypse, so Strand expected that he was going to pick up where he left off with Dante. Unfortunately for Strand, Dante doesn’t trust him.

Threatened that Strand might eventually take over the dam, Dante locked him up in a cell, and just when Strand thought that he was doomed, Daniel appeared in front of him in the flesh, offering him a canteen of water.

“Fear the Walking Dead” airs every Sunday at 9 p.m. EDT on AMC.