Fear the Walking Dead just missed the perfect chance to finally confirm Madison’s fate, which creates questions about why the show won’t put an end to all the theories. For a long time now, viewers have been speculating that Madison (Kim Dickens) will somehow turn up alive in the near future. Admittedly, the series originally did confirm her death back when it happened in season 4’s flashback story. When the fires in the stadium presumably consumed her offscreen, showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss said in interviews that Madison was dead and her story on the show was over.
However, they have since walked that back and are now being coy on whether or not she could have survived. Their position on what really happened to Madison seemed to change around the same time viewers began theorizing that she was the secret character who saved Morgan (Lennie James) following the season 5 finale. Though that specific theory has been debunked, audiences have yet to give up hope she’s somehow on her way back to the series.
Fear the Walking Dead season 6 could have laid all the Madison theories to rest for good in episode 14 when it revisited her ultimate sacrifice and the impact it had. The surprise encounter that Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) had with season 4’s Cole (Sebastian Sozzi) addressed what happened to her, but could have gone further than it did. Like Madison, Cole was believed to have died during the attack on the stadium, but he survived because of her heroic move. Alicia and the others moved on, but Cole apparently stayed in the area. Because of that and his proximity to the stadium, he provided the series with an opportunity to confirm Madison’s death. Cole could have made a remark to Alicia about finding her body after the fire and burying her.
Instead, Fear the Walking Dead avoided this completely. Nothing in the episode offered any further sense of closure that might answer this lingering question. As a result, speculation about Madison coming back is sure to continue, and at this point, it’s worth wondering if that’s what the show wants. It should be pointed out that comments from the showrunners have encouraged rather than stopped the Madison theories. When discussing the possibility of a return in an interview, Chambliss noted the body hasn’t been shown, which is the evidence that all the theories are hinged on. The Walking Dead chief content officer Scott Gimple has added that Madison making a reappearance is “entirely possible” [via Insider].
One possible explanation for this approach is that Fear the Walking Dead understands leaving the door open generates interest and enthusiasm, especially since Madison still has an impressive number of fans. Or, the show may really be gearing up for her return. What felt like an impossibility in season 5 is starting to seem more and more like a storyline that could be in the works for season 7 or a game-changing twist in the season 6 finale.