Fear the Walking Dead Showrunners Hint That [SPOILER] Might Not Be Dead After All

Even though death looked all but certain for Morgan Jones (Lennie James) in Fear the Walking Dead's Season 5 finale, there's a chance he may still be alive. Showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss confirmed to Insider that he was shot in the shoulder, not the heart, and that fans will have to "wait and see" to see what Morgan's fate will be when the show returns in Season 6.

Insider asked if Morgan was really dead after being shot by Ginny (Colby Minifie), and Chambliss answered, "I think all we'll say is that Morgan's final message to everyone was telling them to just live and he meant that on, I think a more metaphorical level telling them to try to live their lives because there actually was some validity to what they were doing. But for Morgan, the question is whether or not he's going to be able to take his own advice and literally live 30 seconds past when the camera cuts in that final shot. And that's just something people are going to have to wait and see."

So maybe he is, maybe he isn't. It does seem pretty impossible that Morgan would be able to get away from the walkers that were closing in on him after he'd been shot and left to die all alone by Ginny, and I initially read the scene as unambiguously the end. For Morgan to be saved would be a major deus ex machina. But the writing in Season 5 of Fear has been maddeningly imprecise, and saving him does seem in line with the show's hopeful tone. Comicbook.com notes that there was no in memoriam for Morgan on Talking Dead.

And the rules of the genre state that no one is for sure dead until you see the body, unless you're told otherwise in no uncertain terms. Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) is definitely dead because Kim Dickens said so, even though we didn't actually see her die. The fact that the showrunners are even leaving open the possibility that Morgan is alive probably indicates that he isn't dead. It seems like it would be too much to make his death seem certain, then tease that it isn't, and then confirm that it actually was certain. They could have made that final scene read more ambiguously to really play up the cliffhanger, but they didn't. So we'll see when the show returns for Season 6 next year. That is, if we want to keep watching. Maybe we'll choose to believe that Morgan is dead and leave it at that rather than watch another frustrating season.

Fear the Walking Dead will return to AMC for Season 6 in 2020.