‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Midseason Finale: That Returning Character, Explained

[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Fear The Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 6, “All I See Is Red.”]

Apparently, it takes more than several hammer blows to the head and a flooded dam to keep a sociopathic antihero down.

Assuming that was who we think it was, Fear The Walking Dead has dropped an explosive twist for the second half of its final season. In the last few minutes before the credits rolled, we saw a faceless survivor in possession of some very special trinkets. Some of those items provide key clues to the person’s identity, and we feel comfortable claiming that the show’s final antagonist might just be none other than… Troy Otto (Daniel Sharman).

Here’s why we think that mysterious survivor is Troy — and a brief reminder of who Troy is, in case you’ve forgotten.

Wait, How Do You Know That’s Him?

Sure, it’d be easier to claim that’s Troy if we’d actually seen Daniel Sharman. As it stands, though, there’s one key piece of evidence that points definitively to the younger Otto sibling: Madison’s (Kim Dickens) old hammer. If you’ll recall, way, way back in Season 3, Madison used her hammer to bash Troy’s skull in after learning he was responsible for the destruction of Broke Jaw Ranch. After taking two unflinching hits to the head, Troy falls. Nick (Frank Dillane) looks on in wide-eyed horror at his mother’s violence. Maddie, unmoved, drops her bloodied hammer to the dam’s dusty ground. Yes, that’s the same hammer that the mysterious person in Season 8 possesses.

This person is either Troy or the writers would really like the fans to assume it’s Troy. But consider, if you will, the other trinkets this person carries around; a map leading from Mexico into the United States, Strand’s (Colman Domingo) sunglasses, and — perhaps most horrifyingly — Alicia’s (Alycia Debnam-Carey) arm. The map from Mexico into the United States provides a no-frills explanation for how Troy might’ve found his way back to the group. The other items are ominous, but they’re easily explained in the context of existing relationships. Strand and Alicia both had contact with Troy in Season 3, and seeing him again would’ve left them flabbergasted. (For all they knew, he died at the dam.) It’s not unthinkable that they would’ve let their guard down around him… and maybe suffered for it. That said, we’re doubting they’re dead. There’s no way Fear ends without at least reuniting Madison and Strand, and whether or not Debnam-Carey returns for the finale, we doubt the show would kill her character offscreen.

Richard Foreman, Jr/AMC

Who Is Troy Otto?

It’s been a while—like, six years and a pandemic—so if you don’t remember much about Troy, that’s understandable. Basically, Troy Otto served as a half-antagonist, and half-antihero for Fear’s third season. One of two brothers in Broke Jaw Ranch’s leading Otto family, Troy was mentally unstable and prone to bouts of cruel violence. Somewhat unwillingly, Madison, Alicia, and Nick got to know him as they took refuge at Broke Jaw. As time passed, Troy developed a weird, semi-Oedipal connection with Madison and a slightly less weird, equally intense companionship with Nick. (Alicia never liked him.)

During the second half of the season Troy, angered by his father’s death and the truce Madison made with Qaletaqa Walker (Michael Greyeyes), eventually led a horde of walkers to Broke Jaw. His actions got his brother killed and decimated the ranch. Nick, recognizing a fellow restless soul, nonetheless continued to ally with and lie to protect Troy… but when Madison discovered what he’d done, she killed him. Except it appears those hammer smacks just weren’t hard enough, because Troy’s risen from his watery grave.

Does he want revenge? What condition is he in, after all he’s been through? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Fear the Walking Dead, Season 8, Part 2, TBD, AMC