PADRE has been holding Madison (Kim Dickens) for seven years. As this move puzzles many, co-showrunner Andrew Chambliss finally revealed why Madison had been kept alive in Fear the Walking Dead Season 8.
Mo/Wren (Zoey Merchant) discovers Madison in an airtight underground cell, where the PADRE commander Shrike (Maya Eshet) and armed guards visit their prisoner to draw her blood. So, is there an important reason why Madison has been kept for so long in Fear the Walking Dead Season 8?
The Reason Behind Keeping Madison Alive
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Chambliss revealed the reason behind keeping Madison alive.
"In that very first scene when Shrike comes down and she draws Madison's blood, we see that there are marks and it seems like this is something that happens a lot," he said. "There maybe is a reason to take that risk beyond just wanting to punish Madison and torture her."
That scene also showed PADRE's "nefarious side" and other things they did to survive.
"And it kind of points to PADRE's more nefarious side, and some of the things that they're doing in the pursuit of survival that we will very quickly learn are pretty shocking and paint PADRE in a very different light from the idyllic summer camp that we see on that island in this episode," he explained.
The Reason Behind the Seven-Year Time Jump
Co-showrunner Ian Goldberg also talked about the big seven-year time jump in Fear the Walking Dead Season 8.
"Well, there were a few reasons why we started to gravitate in that direction," he stated. "And I think one of the biggest was we've been teasing this place PADRE since season 7, and really slowly unpacking what it is."
The recent episode showed who they really are and what they're about, as seen with what they're doing with Madison.
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However, it's just a glimpse, as no one sees what they're really doing inside.
"We felt the best way to understand what it's like to grow up as a child at PADRE … was to do it through the perspective of someone who actually grew up there," he added. "And the perfect character for that, of course, is Mo, who doesn't even know that her real name is Mo until this episode."
Mo grew up thinking she's Wren.
"It just felt like the right lens to tell that story through," Goldberg continued, adding it created a "real rift and mystery" about the show's characters and how PADRE had impacted all of them.
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"But I think the big impetus for the time jump was just to show how much life at PADRE has impacted all of our characters and their way of existing in the world," he revealed.
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