The following contains spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead Season 8, Episode 2, "Blue Jay," streaming now on AMC+.
Fear the Walking Dead co-showrunner Andrew Chambliss recently explained how Season 8, Episode 2, "Blue Jay," pulled off the most brutal scene in the spinoff series' history.
Chambliss discussed the gruesome moment in "Blue Jay" when Shrike (Maya Eshet) manipulates a zombie into biting Finch (Gavin Warren) in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "Yeah, we had a lot of conversations starting at the scripting phase, and then with the director, and then we were in post with AMC on how much we were going to show, how little we were going to show, what was effective, what wasn't," Chambliss said. "We definitely wanted to tell that part of the story to show how brutal PADRE could be, but also how committed to their endgame they are, and the belief in what they are doing is going to actually protect people."
"It was important that they followed through on that threat, and it just didn't seem like it was this hollow thing that they were doing," Chambliss continued. "And it also will have some big repercussions for [Finch's parents] Dwight and Sherry, who were held there and forced to kind watch in their minds what is essentially a death sentence put onto their son." Finch getting nibbled on by a zombie is one of several bold creative choices made by Chambliss and co-showrunner Ian B. Goldberg in Fear the Walking Dead Season 8, which also jumps ahead seven years from the events of Season 7.
Fear the Walking Dead Wraps Up with Season 8
Part of Chambliss and Goldberg's willingness to take risks this season can no doubt be attributed to AMC canceling Fear the Walking Dead in January 2022. Star Danay García addressed the show's cancelation the following month, insisting that Fear the Walking Dead's story had simply run its course. "One of the funniest questions I get asked is, 'What happened to Fear the Walking Dead that it's ending?'" García said. "Nothing happened. What happened is that we've been on the air for eight seasons, and we felt like it was a really fun run. Nothing really happened to Fear. It's just that we've been on the air for quite some time, and it's the time."
The spinoff's cast and crew remain tight-lipped about exactly what's in store in Season 8, however, Chambliss recently hinted that characters from the original Walking Dead series may cameo. "The course of the story will bring all those [Fear the Walking Dead] characters back together," he said. "And maybe even a few other familiar faces."
Source: EW