Warning: The Walking Dead: World Beyond season 2, episode 10 and Fear the Walking Dead season 7, episode 8.

Surprisingly, new episodes of Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond that aired together on the same night featured the same big twist. The life-changing experience that Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) endured in the Fear the Walking Dead midseason finale was mirrored by an event in the World Beyond episode that immediately followed it. Two different shows using very similar storylines was taken as an extremely interesting coincidence.

Though this isn’t always the case with The Walking Dead universe, having multiple shows in its franchise has allowed AMC the opportunity to release them back-to-back on the same night. Most recently, this approach has been used in the fall 2021 season, with episodes in Fear the Walking Dead season 7’s first half being bookended by Walking Dead: World Beyond season 2. Their worlds converged briefly a few weeks ago when FTWD borrowed the CRM – World Beyond’s villains – to finish out Althea’s storyline. But for the most part, the two shows have largely been on different wavelengths, with Morgan’s battle with Strand being fundamentally different from the issues that Hope’s group has been having with the CRM.

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FTWD and World Beyond went in directions that were oddly identical on Sunday when AMC aired the Fear the Walking Dead midseason finale and the World Beyond series finale. In the former, it was found out that Alicia lost her arm to a zombie bite months ago and has been living with a prosthetic hand made from her own bones ever since. Shortly after the massive change that was made to a staple of the Fear the Walking Dead cast, World Beyond shook things up in a big way by putting Elton in the same bind. In an effort to save Hope from an approaching zombie, Elton took a bite on the arm, which was later amputated off-screen at the group’s new base.

Alycia Debhan Carey as Alicia in Fear The Walking Dead

For those who watched both episodes back-to-back in the same way that they aired, Elton’s fate was highly unexpected, in part because it had just happened to Alicia in the previous hour. Though amputation is a common solution to the zombie infection, it’s certainly rare for it to happen to a main character, not to mention two on the same night. And when it does occur, the character to lose their limb doesn’t always survive, as was the case with The Walking Dead’s Bob (Lawrence Gillard, Jr.) and Fear the Walking Dead’s Virginia (Colby Minifie). The last major character to go through this experience – and live – was Aaron (Ross Marquand), who lost his arm in The Walking Dead season 9.

In most situations, amputations understandably lead to important changes for their characters, who have to make big adjustments to how they survive in the zombie apocalypse. However, the fact that Walking Dead: World Beyond has ended means that the incident with Elton may have minimal impact (unless the character somehow returns). That stands in contrast to Fear the Walking Dead’s Alicia, who is facing a new status quo that could have long-term implications. Believing that the amputation only delayed the turning process, Alicia is convinced that her days are numbered.

More: Fear the Walking Dead Season 7 Finally Went Too Far With Morgan