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Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 will tidy up some of Morgan’s (Lennie James) emotional baggage carried over from The Walking Dead when the grieving husband and father says goodbye to his late wife and son. 

“Morgan has had such a difficult journey over on The Walking Dead and now on Fear.  His reaction to losing his son and seeing his wife, as a walker, kill his son, that sent him to a very dark place,” showrunner Andrew Chambliss told TV Insider. “ I think in his journey with Eastman and then coming over to Fear and forging a makeshift family, he’s in a place where he feels he has that violence under control.” 

A crazed Morgan escaped his bloodlust by strictly adhering to the peaceful teachings of late mentor Eastman (John Carroll Lynch), and only recently admitted in a videotaped confessional captured by Althea (Maggie Grace) that he’s still troubled over his family’s tragic endings. 

The Walking Dead viewers will remember Morgan couldn’t bring himself to shoot and kill reanimated wife Jenny (Keisha Tillis), who later devoured their son, Duane (Adrian Kali Turner), driving Morgan mad. 

It was later, through “clearing” and reconnecting with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), that Morgan outran his dark side — a fragile effort he continues by shepherding a pack of survivors on a goodwill mission to save needy strangers. 

“When we hear him talking about Jenny and Duane, I think he’s realizing he hasn’t grieved for them, and that’s what he means when he says he hasn’t said goodbye.  He knows that’s what he needs to do so he can really look toward the future,” Chambliss said. 

“The journey he’s going to find himself on in the back half of the season is really grappling with what it means to say goodbye, how he can say goodbye, and whether it’s something he wants to do.  That’s something we’ll be seeing a lot more of as we continue this season.” 

New episodes of Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 premiere Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.