Fear the Walking Dead Star Explains Why Season 8 Is the Last: "It's Time" to End

02/06/2023 06:30 pm EST

The end is nigh for Fear the Walking Dead. AMC announced the upcoming eighth season would be its last during the Television Critics Association winter press tour, revealing The Walking Dead spinoff will end with a shortened 12-episode final season. The season will be split into two parts, each consisting of six episodes, beginning with the Season 8 premiere May 14th on AMC and AMC+ and ending later in 2023. Danay García, who has played Luciana since the show's second season in 2016, says "it's time" to wrap up the show after nearly a decade on air.

"One of the funniest questions I get asked is, 'What happened to Fear the Walking Dead that it's ending?' Nothing happened," García explained on Instagram Live. "What happened is that we've been on the air for eight seasons, and we felt like it was a really fun run. Nothing really happened to Fear. It's just that we've been on the air for quite some time, and it's the time [to end]."

García added, "I'm just so grateful for everyone that I've crossed paths with."

Created by Robert Kirkman and original showrunner Dave Erickson, Fear the Walking Dead debuted in 2015 as the west coast companion series to AMC's hit The Walking Dead. García has long served as part of a cast that included Kim Dickens, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Frank Dillane, Colman Domingo, Rubén Blades, Cliff Curtis, Mercedes Mason, and more recent additions Lennie James, Garret Dillahunt, Jenna Elfman, Maggie Grace, Mo Collins, Karen David, Christine Evangelista, and Austin Amelio.

"It's a truly exciting year for The Walking Dead Universe, as we conclude an epic journey on Fear the Walking Dead, which became one of the most successful shows in the history of cable television," Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios at AMC Networks, said in a statement announcing the final season. "And now we are set to bring forth the next iteration of the franchise." 

Since ending the flagship show in November 2022, AMC's focus has been its slate of upcoming Walking Dead spinoffs: Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's The Walking Dead: Dead City, Norman Reedus' The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, and Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira's The Walking Dead: Rick & Michonne. 

Scott M. Gimple, the chief content officer of TWD Universe and executive producer of Fear TWD, said in a statement that Season 8 concludes the series with "one of the most vibrant, inventive, exciting seasons ever."

The eighth season of Fear begins after the conclusion of Season 7, when Morgan's (Lennie James) and Madison's (Kim Dickens) hopes to rescue Mo from PADRE did not go as planned. Now, Morgan, Madison and the others they brought to the island are living under PADRE's cynical rule. With our characters demoralized and dejected, the task of reigniting belief in a better world rests with the person Morgan and Madison set out to rescue in the first place — Morgan's daughter, Mo.  

Fear the Walking Dead: The Final Season – Part 1 premieres Sunday, May 14th, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and AMC+. The six-episode Part 2 premieres later in 2023. Stay tuned to ComicBook/TWD and follow @NewsOfTheDead for more TWD Universe coverage.

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