‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Series Finale: Kim Dickens And Jenna Elfman On Their “Beautiful” and “Bittersweet” Endings

Fear the Walking Dead is done after eight seasons on AMC. And luckily, what was most likely viewers’ number one request happened. Spoilers past this point, but in the closing moments of the hour Alicia Clark (Alycia Debnam-Carey) returned. Alive, happy, healthy, and for the first time in four seasons, reunited with her mother, Madison (Kim Dickens).

“I think it was just like a holy experience,” Dickens told Decider on the reunion. “I think she thought she was probably not on Earth anymore, and I think that may have been in some of the original lines, I don’t know. But for Madison, it’s very fantastical, that beautiful moment, and I’m so glad we were able to do that.”

In fact, in a surprising turn for a show that hasn’t been shy about killing characters, all of our leads in the ensemble made it out alive and got fitting closure. That includes Madison, who heads back to LA where it all started with Alicia and a little psychopath named Tracy (Antonella Rose) in tow. And for June Dorie (Jenna Elfman), she’s heading back to Texas to try and be a nurse again in her husband’s old cabin, with her own de facto daughter by her side.

For much more on the finale, including that Madison/Alicia reunion, read on. And be sure to read our other Fear the Walking Dead series finale interviews:

• Co-showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss
• Colman Domingo
• Rubén Blade and Danay Garcia

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Decider: What the reunion with Alicia was like? Not just for you, but also for Madison, the character. What was it like playing that?

Kim Dickens: Well for Madison, I think it was just like a holy experience. I think she thought she was probably not on Earth anymore, and I think that may have been in some of the original lines, I don’t know. But for Madison, it’s very fantastical, that beautiful moment, and I’m so glad we were able to do that. I’m glad for me, I’m glad for Alicia, I’m glad for the characters. I’m glad for the audience. I thought it was really beautiful. And I thought we’d earned it. For me, Kim, it was just the icing on the cake, really. And actually I just can’t imagine doing it without that closure with Alycia. And yeah, we had fun. As soon as she got to town, as soon as she got to Savannah, we were at dinner and it was just like old times. She’s a special girl. She’s so talented and just as lovely on the inside.

Jenna, I wanted to ask you about June’s finale. I thought there were so many lovely full-circle moments jammed into that final scene with her. Not only is she heading back to John Dorie’s cabin. Not only is she fine with being a nurse again, but she has a defacto daughter as well in Odessa. Same sort of question, but what was it like playing that closure for you both for the character and for yourself, the actress after playing this character for so many years?

Jenna Elfman: Yeah, it is bittersweet. It’s sad to not have John Dorie, but to have everything that he brought, and by way of then Dwight and Sherry, full circle, Dwight wouldn’t have found Sherry if it wasn’t for John and June. And so therefore we have John in that way. We have his guns that came back into that final fight scene. I hand one to Dove, she uses it. So all this beautiful pay it forward. And I thought it was really empowering too for June to have this young lady to be able to guide and have a companion and be able to help and teach and who also was so healing to me, she was such a helper to me. I like the two chicks, that strength and vulnerability at the same time in this next generation with Dove, and that there’s a vulnerable new beginning for June in that way of teaming up with Dove.

And she’s planning to go back to that cabin, but it feels like a new start for her because of how Dove helped her believe in herself again. So it feels like both June is returning to her roots, but also being given a fresh start. I like that.

At the end, Madison, Alicia, and Tracy are all heading to LA and I think you have a line like, “It’s going to be really interesting to see how much has changed in the intervening years.” It feels like this clear spinoff set up there. Is that something you could see happening or is that just more about: the story is never over?

Dickens: It’s certainly not anything I know about, but for me, I think it’s just truthful storytelling, to be honest. I think that’s what felt really right, that’s what these characters would do is probably try to make their way back to that place that was home and see what it’s like and see how they could help there. Because once there was an exodus out of Los Angeles, you didn’t see it after the first six episodes. So I think that’s just truthful storytelling. I mean, it’d be great to see an apocalyptic Los Angeles, but I’m sure that costs too much.

Elfman: You just have to go outside your front door. I mean, really.

Dickens: Exactly. This is it. Oh my God.

Jenna, similarly talking about spinoffs, are we going to get a procedural, like a Little House on the Prarie type thing where she solves medical mysteries with Odessa every episode?

Elfman: [Laughs] That’s amazing. I love that idea. I mean, sign me up, [but] I’m the wrong person to ask.

No problem. I’ll petition AMC.

Dickens: Yeah, we know zero until all of a sudden sometimes there’s a phone call and you’re like, huh? I prefer to live in that sort of place too as an actor. I’m like, just let me know when I have an audition. Don’t tell me about anything until it’s time for me to jump in.

Tracy is a character that’s popped up in the last couple of episodes and becomes so important to the show. Why do you think Madison takes her along at the end? At this point we know conclusively she’s not Alicia’s daughter, she’s Troy’s daughter. This is a character that I think shot Madison in the same episode, hit her over the head the episode before. Is she ever going to be able to trust this kid?

Dickens: [Laughs] Yeah, probably. I think she’s going to parent that kid, between Alicia and Madison, they’re going to give her a good role model and nurture her and what have you. But I think the reason that Madison probably takes her along is because Troy tricked Madison by making her think that that was Alicia’s daughter and [she was] Madison’s granddaughter in effect. So he tricked her into giving her a purpose to live, giving her a reason to live. And by doing that, he served himself, which was “take care of my daughter.” So I think you can’t walk away from that.

Jenna, like you were saying, she gets this closure with John Dorie’s spirit at least where it’s infusing the episode and clearly with Odessa as well. Is there a character that you would’ve wanted her to spend a little more time with in these final episodes? Did you feel like there was some of that closure mission missing at all?

Elfman: Well, it’s tough. I mean, it was a bit of a shortened season, so I can’t go, I wish this was… Because I think maybe there would’ve been if there was a full 16-episode season. But I just love the June/Dwight/Sherry/Dove-ness of it all. I like how they all work together. I liked all their chemistry together. I don’t know. I feel fine. I like that everyone got to come back and have these reunions and it feels weird to end a show too far away from where it started in terms of the characters that ignited the story in the first place. So it was really good to see. I enjoyed watching all of the original characters have these meaningful scenes together and meaningful emotions about their journeys. And no, I don’t think I have some longing for something that wasn’t there.

Dickens: It was important for all of us because it did become a shorter season than we’d anticipated, and there would’ve been a lot more story and four more episodes, but whatever, it is as it should be. Six and six, and in those six I think a lot of us, I remember we all really advocated for our characters to be truthful and honest in these moments because if we were saying goodbye, everybody had to be able to reconcile things together or not, or say we’re not going to reconcile things. We were holding each other’s characters accountable and that felt really good, too. So whatever stories we had the time to tell, I know that we all thought to tell them truthfully, and with accountability for these characters and everything they’ve gone through together and apart. And so that feels like you can walk away more easily that way.

Something that’s been really coming out through these interviews as I’ve been talking to everybody is how collaborative this process was towards the end, with showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss. What has this overall experience been like for you? Is there a takeaway you have? I know taking eight years or so and encapsulating that way might be tough, but Jenna, I’m curious to hear from you at least, and then Kim.

Elfman: It was a profoundly enjoyable experience. I learned so much… Total gratitude. Gratitude and knowledge. I learned a lot. Something that’s really important to me is to just continue learning always. It keeps life feeling really fresh to me to continue being vulnerable, not know something, learn about it, fail, collide, learn the lesson, apply, see how it works. I don’t ever, ever want to feel like, oh yeah, I know what I’m doing. I want to learn. I want to be vulnerable. I want to explore, try new things. So to me, this was a cathartic, new experience and I learned so much and had so many incredible experiences. So I feel grateful. That is the big thing. I got to meet so many new people. I got to experience a whole new genre that even the fans, it’s a whole new experience. It’s not the same experience like how fans enjoy your work in other areas. This genre fandom is its own life force, and that’s been really enjoyable. And it’s just gratitude. I just totally walk away a hundred percent grateful.

Dickens: Absolutely. The gratitude is just endless for the show. And like Jenna said, it’s like, this is not live theater. We’re doing television and streaming and you don’t really get to interact with an audience so much so, but you do in genre because that is a passionate, mobilized, engaged fan base. And that’s been very rewarding to me. That’s been very fun because you don’t really have that… Sure, you have fans or sometimes you have a live audience on a sitcom or the film premiere or what have you, but in general, that’s not what we experience. So that was a new experience for me. That was really fun. A lot of it’s like they don’t like a lot of things too, but you have to be tough. You’re like, Hey, it’s okay. It’s a forum and I’m just playing a character. But yeah, and for me, I feel like too, what we were tasked to do on a daily basis was nothing I’d ever done.

I mean, yeah, I had to learn how to be a detective here and there or what would a whore in the 1800s do and all that. But this-

Elfman: Tell me about that, Kim.

Dickens: Well, Jenna call me later.

Elfman: [Laughs] Okay.

Dickens: I’ve played whores and detectives and Oh, that’s right. A zombie killer. Feeling like I’ve come out of this knowing I can do some action… That’s great. I got that under my belt now and it feels good. It feels good. And I also think I grew personally during it too. It’s just eight years, a lot happens.

Well, congratulations to both of you. And I’m sure we’ll be talking when June’s Texas Zombie ER gets on AMC at some point.

Elfman: [Laughs] Sounds good.

Dickens: [Laughs] Fear ER.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.