Talking Dead has confirmed Lennie James (a.k.a. Morgan Jones) is crossing over from The Walking Dead to the show’s Fear The Walking Dead spinoff next season. It was a surprising announcement, as many fans believed it would Abraham who returns to The Walking Dead universe. The crossover wouldn’t be a big deal, but James’ comments on Chris Hardwick’s aftershow left many of us questioning the character’s fate.
"The hardest part of it, from beginning until now, has been leaving The Walking Dead , leaving that cast and leaving that crew. And I've said my goodbyes to the cast and stuff, and I've said my goodbyes to the crew,” James said via Skype on Talking Dead.
James said leaving and goodbyes in his statement about joining the Fear The Walking Dead cast. Melissa McBride, who plays Carol, was misty-eyed while James spoke. That’s a lot of emotion for a regular see-you-later kind of goodbye. Of course, showrunner Scott M. Gimple shared a statement on Talking Dead as well.
“Even though Morgan is going to be featured on Fear , he has a lot of story left on The Walking Dead ,” Gimple said. “Morgan’s arc on The Walking Dead Season 8 positioned him for the story on Fear . It was also important to see Fear’s world and characters through new yet familiar eyes.”
Remember, Fear The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead take place during different timelines. Fear’s universe kicked off at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, while The Walking Dead began six months into the events. Technically, Fear’s is several years behind The Walking Dead’s events.
There’s only two ways for Morgan’s crossover to work on Fear The Walking Dead . The first option is we find out what Morgan was up to while Rick left. We know he stayed around for some time and cleared out the walkers in the area. We know Morgan went into Jedi training with Eastman in the woods. But the show made it seem that’s all Morgan did in the years we didn’t see him. The only other option is that there’s a time jump in Fear the Walking Dead that catches them up to the show. Morgan leaves Alexandria after the All Out War takes what little is left of his soul and moves away from the Negan mess.
Unfortunately, a time jump that big in Fear The Walking Dead doesn’t make sense. The point of Fear is that it exists in its own timeline, so whatever happens to Morgan has to tie into what’s going on in Texas. Maybe Madison shows up close to Morgan in Atlanta and he helps her return to her family. Morgan is probably reminded of the events just before he dies in The Walking Dead. He’s already dead in the comic books, after all. He didn’t make it past the All Out War.
We’re just disappointed Abraham isn’t returning to the universe. His jokes are sorely missed on the show. Do you think Morgan will die in The Walking Dead Season 8? Let us know in the comments below.
