Warning: Spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead season 8, episode 6

While laying the groundwork for a familiar face to serve as the final villain, Fear the Walking Dead hinted at a game-changing, offscreen death. Since season 7’s ending, it was easy to assume that PADRE would be the spinoff’s last major antagonist. However, it would seem that PADRE being the central threat was only the plan for half of the final season.

Fear the Walking Dead season 8’s midseason finale seemingly concluded the conflict between Morgan’s group and the PADRE organization. PADRE hasn’t exactly fallen, but the need for fighting ended when Shrike was bitten by her father’s zombie. Subsequently, Morgan let PADRE have the coordinates, allowing them to get what they wanted. With Madison apparently taking over the organization, PADRE looks to be headed in a different direction going forward. Of course, that doesn’t mean their troubles over. The final scene in Fear the Walking Dead season 8, episode 6, titled “All I See Is Red,” teased the arrival of a new adversary. Not only that, but the scene implies they murdered a key character.

Fear The Walking Dead’s Midseason Finale Sets Up A New Villain

The scene in question depicts an unknown character listening to the broadcast where Madison talks about her plans for PADRE. Their face isn’t shown, but Fear the Walking Dead dropped a few interesting clues about where they might fit into the bigger picture. Ominously, a metal arm that can be clearly identified as Alicia’s was shown to be in this person’s possession. Shown on the table alongside Alicia’s arm were a pair of sunglasses and a hammer. The sunglasses bear a strong resemblance to the pair Victor Strand used to wear on the show. As for the hammer, it may or may not belong to Madison, considering that a hammer was once her signature weapon.

The way this scene is framed creates the impression that the character listening to Madison’s broadcast will be an enemy of the main characters. In fact, this mystery villain even comes across as a stalker of sorts. Not only does he own objects connected to the Fear the Walking Dead characters, a map in the background plots the journey of the Clark family across all eight seasons. So whereas PADRE had large-scale plans in mind, it seems Fear the Walking Dead’s new villain will be thinking smaller – specifically, it looks like they’ll be pursuing a personal vendetta against Madison and the others.

Fear The Walking Dead Season 8’s Mystery Figure Identity Explained

Although FTWD never showed the face of the mystery figure, one detail in the scene provides a huge clue as to their true identity. One of the shots in the scene curiously lingers on the hammer. As noted above, the hammer was Madison’s weapon of choice for a while, but it’s importance here goes deeper than that – the hammer looks identical to the one Madison bludgeoned Troy with in season 3’s penultimate episode. With two strikes to the head, Madison abruptly murdered Troy upon finding out that he purposely led the zombie horde to the ranch.

Given the two heavy blows he took to the head, there weren’t many questions surrounding his fate. After all, even if he did miraculously survive his injuries, he would still have to get away from the dam without much time to spare, considering that Frank Dillane’s Nick Clark blew it up in the following episode. That said, Troy wouldn’t be the first “dead” character resurrected by Fear the Walking Dead. Madison returned despite originally dying in season 4’s stadium fire, and if the hammer is any indication, Troy is now back as well. A weapon that matches the hammer that supposedly killed Troy appearing in season 8 certainly sends that message.

Has Alicia Been Killed In Fear The Walking Dead?

If Troy is on a mission of revenge, it may have already begun. There were hopes that Alicia would return and perhaps reunite with Madison, but there was no evidence that Alycia Debnam-Carey would reprise the role, even for one episode, meaning that her open-ended scene in the season 7 finale may never be resolved. Now, Fear the Walking Dead is pointed toward a resolution on that front – but perhaps not one that involves the actress returning. The final scene confirms nothing, of course, but does insinuate that Alicia is dead, presumably at the hands of the mystery villain.

She could have experienced an off-screen death, thus providing a working explanation for why she never tried to follow Morgan’s group after realizing she wasn’t dying. It’s likely that since season 8’s new villain has been tracking the characters’ movements, they crossed paths with Alicia first and will be gunning for Madison next. Alternatively, the show could reveal that this character has actually taken Alicia captive. But that would naturally depend on the actress making at least one guest appearance in season 8. In short, Alicia’s arm can only lead to one of two outcomes. Her fate remaining open to interpretation no longer feels like an option, which means that either Alicia is coming back, or her death will finally confirmed.

Fear The Walking Dead Really Needed A New Final Villain

Alicia’s fate and the plot holes associated with Troy’s potential return aside, the direction Fear the Walking Dead is taking beats the idea of PADRE being the final villain. The show’s reveal about who the villains were left much to be desired. Shrike worked well as an antagonist for a multi-episode arc – which is ultimately what she became anyway – but she never felt like the right choice for Fear the Walking Dead’s last villain. That role should go to someone who can be seen as the ultimate adversary for the characters, and neither PADRE leader met that criteria, especially with Virginia and Strand both being much more menacing villains.

FTWD needs someone who can trump all of them. Most importantly, its final villain should be someone with a deep, personal connection to the characters, and that’s certainly something that Troy would have if he returns in Fear the Walking Dead season 8. What’s more, Troy would have a strong link to the particular group the show is expected to have on hand. Dwight said he was heading home, Morgan appears to be on a mission to find Rick Grimes, and Grace is dead, leaving the show without many of the characters that were added after its reinvention in season 4. Several of the protagonists from the first three seasons, on the other hand, should be back, such as Daniel, Madison, Strand, and Luciana. With these four around, Troy would be a fitting final opponent.