Fear The Walking Dead: Will Madison Become Alpha?

As AMC's The Walking Dead heads into Season 8 and the "All Out War" saga, fans are preparing for more bloodshed than ever before as the communities band together against Negan and his Saviors. However, once all the bullets and tigers have stopped flying, who comes next?Turning to the pages of Image Comics' The Walking Dead, readers are already anticipating the arrival of the next big bad - a bald-headed psychopath under the name of Alpha. While Alpha is surely waiting in the wings of AMC's show, everyone is waiting with bated breath to see how/when showrunner Scott Gimple will introduce her. However, have we already met her on the channel's sister show, Fear The Walking Dead? With a vicious streak of violence bubbling just below the surface, there is every chance that Kim Dickens' Madison Clark is actually Alpha in the making.

An interview with The Hollywood Reporter, departing showrunner Dave Erickson pointed out that he saw Madison as the Fear The Walking Dead's ultimate bad guy. If Erickson had remained on the show, he tipped Madison to be last man standing, but also that her arc would turn her into Fear's very own version of the Governor or Negan:

"The thing that's interesting to me, and one of the questions I asked myself and asked Robert Kirkman very on was of the people in our group, who do you see becoming the Governor? Of our group, who could become a Negan? That's interesting to me, to watch an evolution of a character and start with them as a hero, and bleed that into antihero, and bleed that into full-on villain. It would have been interesting. In terms of the final conflict within the family, it would have been key. For me, there's a lot left for Madison specifically."

Is this all just a pipe dream of combining Fear and The Walking Dead for the sake of convenience, or is there method in the madness to turn Madison from Alabama slammer to full-blown psychopath wearing the skin of the dead for fun? Let's look at the facts!

Crossovers Are Coming

The timing for a Madison/Alpha evolution couldn't be better, as both Fear and The Walking Dead are just a hair's breadth away from clashing in a big way when one character will crossover between both shows. It seems that it is nearly a dead cert that Sgt. Abraham Ford will be combing his mustache over on Fear The Walking Dead, but who's to say that he will be the only crossover character? Backtracking on early promises that the two shows would never come together, Kirkman and his team of talent are paving the way for a much larger Walking Dead universe. If you look at cinema, expanded universes mean big bucks these days, and it is only a matter of time before TV shows follow suit. Everyone has heard the Breaking Bad/The Walking Dead connection theory, and while you probably shouldn't expect Bryan Cranston to pop up as Walter White on Fear, we should probably expect Abraham (or whoever's) crossover to be part of something much bigger.

You also have to bear in mind that both Fear and The Walking Dead are only really just hitting their stride. After a much-improved Season 3, the prequel show has won over fans and critics to steadily climb in popularity. With new showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, who knows what their plan is for the longevity of the series. As for the main show, the likes of Gimple, Kirkman, and Greg Nicotero have all joked about Season 20. It is safe to assume that no one is going anywhere for a quite some time, and while Madison doesn't have to turn into Alpha right this very second, it is an interesting idea to move forward with.

Kim Dickens as Madison Fear The Walking Dead

Redeeming Madison

It is safe to say that Madison isn't the most well-received character to grace Kirkman's apocalypse, and the Alpha twist could really redeem the character. From Dickens' performance herself to the character's questionable decisions, there is something that hasn't quite clicked with some Fear viewers and its de facto lead. If you look over at The Walking Dead, Andrew Lincoln's performance as Rick Grimes is almost universally praised, and although Rick has done some bad things, he is still a fan-favorite among Dead-Heads. Admittedly, Fear is much younger, but to know that Madison will eventually become this twisted villain might nudge fans to get behind her. Look at HBO's Westworld - its first season shocked with the twist that a fan favorite character was simultaneously a ruthless villain. There was something tragic about the revelation that Jimmi Simpson's lovable hero was heading down this dark path, and it just might work for Madison too.

From the moment Madison swung that hammer at Troy in Fear's Season 3 finale, Erickson sealed her fate as a character that is slowly unraveling. The first three seasons may have had Madison as a loving mother, but it has also shown a woman who isn't adverse to using violence to protect those closest to her. Turning to the comics once again, Alpha's whole MO was to care for her daughter Lydia. The whole Madison/Alpha theory could also neatly tie to Alycia Debnam Carey's Alicia. If AMC does move forward to cast Dickens as Alpha, Carey could easily fill the role of Lydia - we all know that the show doesn't mind altering the source material to fit its own story.

The Alpha Female

There are of course other options, and the arrival of the riddle-talking Jadis in Season 7 put the cat among the pigeons as a possible Alpha substitute. With Jadis promoted to a series regular and surviving that bullet-strewn finale, Jadis lives to fight another day and won't be a one-shot villain - but there is a problem. The reception toward the woman with the worst haircut in the apocalypse was a little frosty, and just like Madison, fans have struggled to get on board with Jadis. Even actress Pollyanna McIntosh has championed herself to be Alpha, but would fans really support such a move? Jadis could suddenly do a U-turn to become the show's most interesting character in Season 8, but it is looking doubtful.

Elsewhere, who's to say that Alpha has to be someone we already know? If you look at the reveal of Negan, fans knew months in advance that Jeffrey Dean Morgan would be stepping into the role, but the presence of Negan lingered over Season 6 without so much as a glimpse of the actor. Saving him until the Season 6 finale was a masterstroke that really worked in the show's favor. If TWD is looking to cast its Alpha, it might not also be a bad thing that it is someone completely new to the universe, but whoever nabs the part is sure to be a lucky lady.

Whatever happens, it will undoubtedly be a case of wait and see. The Walking Dead is diving head first into the "All Out War" chapter of its story, and chances are that Gimple will want to let the dust settle a little before Alpha steps up to the plate. If you look at the space between the Governor and Negan, the show doesn't need to just hop from one big villain to the next. That being said, with the skin-wearing leader of the Whisperers lurking out there somewhere, it is safe to assume that Negan isn't the only one that the Alexandria Safe-Zone survivors need to be worried about!

Fear The Walking Dead season 4 has been confirmed by AMC and The Walking Dead Season 8 airs on Sundays on AMC