Fear the Walking Dead’s latest episode all but confirmed the theory about the show’s new season 6 villain being connected to John Dorie (Garrett Dillahunt). It’s been speculated for a while that John Glover’s Fear the Walking Dead character would turn out to be the same person that was previously discussed by John in episode 4.
During “The Key,” John was wrestling with a huge dilemma related to the fate of Janis (Holly Curran), who he was sure was being framed for a murder she didn’t commit. While struggling with what to do, John told Rabbi Jacob (Peter Jacobson) a story about a similar moral quandary that his father found himself in decades ago. Apparently, his father and the police force were on the trail of a serial killer who had killed several women. They figured out who the culprit was, but didn’t have enough to get a conviction. So to put a dangerous man behind bars, John’s father did what he thought was right and planted evidence in his closet. His actions alienated his friends, but resulted in the serial killer being incarcerated.
The details Dorie gave about this serial killer led fans to wonder if Fear the Walking Dead was building toward him becoming an actual character on the show – specifically, the one played by John Glover. As someone who was put in prison several decades ago, he’d have to be played by an actor who was at least in his 70s, and Glover did fit the bill for that. And, comments from the showrunner about the next villain having something to do with John further reinforced the theory. Now that he’s been officially introduced, it’s become quite clear that Teddy is indeed the man John described. According to John, he brainwashed people into believing his extreme ideas about “death” and “new beginnings”, which sounds exactly like the “The End is the Beginning” philosophy that’s being taught by Teddy, which is being wholly embraced by people like Derek, Riley, and dozens more.
What should have washed away any lingering doubts about the connection between the two is Teddy’s people using embalming fluid in episode 11. This reveal matches up well with what is known about the serial killer, who John called a “two-bit mortician”. Plus, he ran a compound in the Houston area, which could be where Teddy’s base, the Holding, is located.
The two being the same character speaks to how dangerous and twisted this person really is. It appears that Teddy has been murdering innocents long before the zombie apocalypse even happened. What makes him even more threatening is his charismatic persona. Wes (Colby Hollman) was both disgusted and horrified to see that Derek had become “lost” because of Teddy. Based on what Wes said, Derek was a good person until he became associated with Teddy. Teddy’s ability to turn people like Derek into murderers provides a lot of insight into what Morgan (Lennie James) and his group are up against in Fear the Walking Dead season 6, and perhaps season 7 as well. It could be that as their conflict heats up, one among them will end up discovering Teddy’s past, and attempt to expose him. It would have been fitting for this role to go to John, but unfortunately, his death makes that impossible.