Way back at New York Comic Con in October, the producers behind AMC’s zombie shows The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead announced there would be a crossover in 2018. Now, more details about the crossover surfaced in this week’s edition of Talking Dead, in which actor Lennie James confirmed he will play his fan-favorite Morgan as a series regular in Season 4 of Fear the Walking Dead.
Speaking via satellite from Houston, Texas, the new shooting location of Fear the Walking Dead in its next season, the actor hinted that his move to Fear — which functions as a distant prequel to The Walking Dead — means Morgan is in for a permanent goodbye in the core Walking Dead series.
“From the very first moment the whole suggestion of Morgan going over to Fear the Walking Dead, the hardest part of that, from beginning to now, has been leaving The Walking Dead,” James said. “Leaving that cast, leaving that crew. I’ve said my goodbyes to the cast and I’ve said my goodbyes to the crew. That show stands or falls on the back of that crew. And I’m going to miss them very much.”
In a statement read by Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick from showrunner Scott M. Gimple, Morgan’s arc this season of The Walking Dead “positioned him for the story on Fear the Walking Dead” and that “It was also important to see Fear’s world and characters through new, yet familiar eyes.”
Lennie James as "Morgan" in 'The Walking Dead.'
Introduced in the very first episode of The Walking Dead as a survivor who helps Rick (Andrew Lincoln) after Rick wakes from his coma, Morgan returned to the show in the fifth season finale before becoming a series regular from Season 6 onwards. The Walking Dead has already explored Morgan’s backstory in how he learned martial arts — his skills with a bo staff are unparalleled in the apocalypse — but now, more of Morgan’s story will be revealed in Fear as the show takes place in an undetermined time before The Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. Eastern on AMC. Fear the Walking Dead will return in 2018.
