Yahoo Movies Fear the Walking Dead season 4: All you need to know
Fear the Walking Dead surprised everyone this past year, enjoying a creative peak as the third season fired on all cylinders.
The acclaimed run led to some fans saying that the prequel is now officially better than the original series.
After Dave Erickson departed as showrunner following the finale with Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg taking over, season four has started off strongly with the arrival of Morgan, as well as delivering one game-changing shock in the third episode.
But what else can we expect in the rest of season four?
Fear the Walking Dead season 4 air date: When is the midseason break?
The new season kicked off in the US on AMC on Sunday, April 15 and Monday, April 23 on BT in the UK, with its 16 episodes being split with the customary midseason break, so the show will air its midseason finale on June 10 in the US, with the UK airing it the next day on June 11.
We can then expect the show to return in either late August or early September, running through until The Walking Dead premieres its ninth season.
Fear the Walking Dead season 4 cast: Who is back?
Half of the main characters were killed off in season three, leaving us with just Nick (Frank Dillane), Madison (Kim Dickens), Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey), Luciana (Danay Garcia) and Victor Strand (Colman Domingo) at the start of the season.
We still don't know where Daniel (Ruben Blades) is – in either the past or present timeline – after we last saw him on the top of the dam with Nick, but Chambliss has confirmed he is "alive and out there".
"The details surrounding that are something that we're still keeping under wraps," he teased. "He's [made it through] a fire in a wine cellar, then getting shot in the face and then a dam explosion… He's definitely a survivor!"
However, we have been introduced to some fresh faces in season four as Morgan ran into curious journalist Althea (Maggie Grace) and John Dorie (Garret Dillahunt) on his journey from The Walking Dead, before the three of them met up with Nick, Alicia, Luciana and Strand on the road. And by 'met', we mean 'held hostage for a bit'.
In the past timeline, we've also been introduced to Diamond residents Cole (Sebastian Sozzi), Viv (Rhoda Griffis) and Douglas (Kenneth Wayne Bradley), as well as members of the Vultures, Mel (Kevin Zegers), Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) and Ennis (Evan Gamble).
There's also still the potential for past characters to come back, such as Native American enemies-turned-allies Qaletaqa (Michael Greyeyes) and Crazy Dog (Justin Rain). They were last seen in the finale leaving the dam just before the Proctors struck.
Speaking of the Proctors, they are led by 'Proctor John' (Ray McKinnon). He was set up as the next potential Big Bad, with episodes 15 and 16 revealing the large force he has under his power and his intention to open up a trade route which includes Houston, Texas.
He was last seen fleeing the dam as it was blown up, and if Nick and Daniel ended up surviving then there's no reason why John couldn't have escaped with his life, either.
Fear the Walking Dead season 4 spoilers: What's happened so far?
After a sedate first episode that saw some more Walking Dead crossovers, the second episode successfully introduced the dual timelines of season four as we saw the dam survivors set up a new community at baseball stadium Dell Diamond in Texas.
Episode three began to switch between the timelines more frequently, leading up to a devastating climax where Nick was fatally shot by Charlie to avenge his murder of his Vulture nemesis Ennis in the present-day timeline.
We will still see Nick in future episodes as the show fills in the gap between the Vultures arriving at the Diamond and Nick and co running into Morgan on the road, but he is definitely a goner for future seasons as Frank Dillane asked to leave his role before season four started.
Fans are also worried about the fate of Madison as we haven't yet seen her in the present-day timeline, leading some to suspect that she has died already and co-showrunner Andrew Chambliss isn't ruling it out.
"We would say – and this sort of speaks to Nick's death, too, even though he died in this episode – that there is still more story to tell in the dual narratives that we're telling," he teased. "We don't want to give away anything that's coming, but there's definitely a lot more story to tell in the flashback."
The fourth episode also confirmed that Naomi (Jenna Elfman) is actually Laura, the girlfriend that John Dorie has been searching for, and it's not good news for him as she apparently died at the Diamond. "You know, they were 'at the stadium', and they said she didn't make it out. But there's still more of the story to be told," Goldberg explained.
The Walking Dead crossover: How did Morgan appear?
After surviving All Out War with Negan in the season eight finale of The Walking Dead, Morgan decided to live alone in the Scavengers' former home and despite Rick, Carol and Jesus trying to persuade him to rejoin the group, it only succeeded in driving him away.
So Morgan decided to travel across the country from Virginia to Texas, eventually coming across Althea and John before they were all held hostage by Nick, Alicia, Strand and Luciana in the first episode cliffhanger.
Since then, he was in the process of striking up a friendship/mentorship with Nick, even giving him the Art of Peace book, so it'll be interesting to see how Morgan copes with losing yet another person.
"When Al interviewed him [in episode one], he talked about, 'I lose people and I lose myself'. That was what was keeping him away from people, was wanting to avoid that cycle repeating," co-showrunner Ian Goldberg teased. "Now we've seen that come to fruition again. He's lost Nick. What is that going to mean for him going forward? I think you're going to see it's going to impact Morgan in a really significant way."
Fear the Walking Dead airs on AMC in the US and on AMC on BT TV in the UK.
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