Fear the Walking Dead star Lennie James confirmed that he will not return to the franchise after the series’ eighth and final season.

“This is it for me,” James told CBR in an exclusive interview regarding his character, Morgan Jones. “He’s been around long enough. For me to pick up the stick again, it would have to be an amazing storyline. It would have to be a situation where I couldn’t look back on all the episodes that I’ve done so far and go, ‘No, I did that in episode such and such in Season such and such.’ I’m not interested in repeating myself with Morgan at the moment. I think it would kind of slightly tarnish his legacy.”

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While this is James’ first confirmation that he will not return to The Walking Dead franchise, he has previously teased the conclusion of Morgan’s story. In an April interview, James opened up about his character’s final mission. “This final season, for me, was, ‘What does Morgan live for, or what does Morgan die for?” he said. “If he achieves what he set out to do – which was to take care of the people that he cared about most – where does that leave him?.. And that’s what I wanted for Morgan. I wanted his finale to be an answer to those questions.”

James’ portrayal of the pacifist Morgan Jones has been a staple in The Walking Dead universe since the pilot episode of the mothership series in 2010. James portrayed the character for the first three seasons of The Walking Dead, and additionally returned for Seasons 5 through 8. However, he made the jump to the first Walking Dead spinoff series, Fear the Walking Dead, in 2018 for that show’s fourth season.

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Fear the Walking Dead Ends With Season 8

It was confirmed by AMC in January 2023 that Season 8 of Fear the Walking Dead would be its last. At the time, AMC Studios and AMC Networks entertainment president Dan McDermott praised the spinoff as one of the best-performing shows in the history of cable television. Fear the Walking Dead will conclude with a two-part final season, with Season 8, Part 1 debuting in May for six episodes. Part 2 does not have a release date at the time of writing, though it will also consist of six episodes.

While Fear the Walking Dead will soon come to a close, the Walking Dead universe is nowhere near finished. The “next phase” of the franchise will kick off with The Walking Dead: Dead City, which will focus on Negan and Maggie (Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohen) and is set to debut in June. Other upcoming spinoffs include The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, an untitled Rick and Michonne spinoff, and a potential second installment of Tales of the Walking Dead.

Fear the Walking Dead Season 8, Part 1 premieres on AMC on May 14, 2023.

Source: CBR