‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Season 3 Will Delve Deeper Into Madison’s Past [SPOILERS]

Viewers will learn more about Madison’s (Kim Dickens) backstory in the upcoming Season 3 of “Fear the Walking Dead.”

In a recent interview with BT TV, showrunner Dave Erickson said the new installment of the AMC series will reveal more details about Madison’s past. “We’ve been dancing around Madison’s backstory for quite some time, really since the pilot,” Erickson said. “And [in Season 3] we will start to get a better picture of where she came from, who she is and, you know, why she has become this person who can be incredibly nurturing and supportive for her children, but she is also able to allow violence, she is able to commit crimes. There is a reason for that and it really comes from her past.”

Born in the early 1970’s in Alabama, Madison had a troubled relationship with her father. In fact, at the age of 13, Madison hit her dad in a fit of anger during an argument. Throughout her teenage years, she worked as a bartender to pay for her own education. After she graduated, she moved to Los Angeles and worked as a guidance counselor at Paul R. Williams High School.

READ: Why is Dave Erickson leaving “Fear the Walking Dead”?

Madison then met and married construction worker Steven Clark. The two had three children: Nick (Frank Dillane), a second child who was born stillborn and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey). In later years, Steven committed suicide by deliberately crashing his car. Sometime after his death, Madison met divorced English teacher Travis Manawa, and the two started to have a relationship.

While Madison cares a lot about her family, she, too, has a cruel side. In Season 2, episode 7, for instance, Madison mercilessly locked Celia (Marlene Forté) in the wine cellar with the infected, ultimately causing her death.

In the same interview with BT TV, Dickens said that viewers can expect a more ruthless Madison in Season 3. “I think Madison is learning that there is no place for her moral compass anymore and her compassion,” said Dickens. “And I think she set on not making the mistake she was making before and she eventually draws lines there. You see a darker side of her, more merciless.”

Erickson said the same thing about Madison in a separate interview with TVLine. “[Madison is] going to double down and abandon anything resembling mercy for a time,” Erickson said of what fans can expect from Madison in Season 3. “For her, in this world, you have to sell a piece of your soul to survive. And as we move through the season, Nick and Alicia are going to see that and come to understand what drives her.”

“Fear the Walking Dead” Season 3 premieres on Sunday, June 4 at 9 p.m. EDT on AMC.