The Walking Dead "Because All Life Is Precious": The Morgan Jones Thread

[Elevator Man]

‘The Walking Dead’ & ‘FearTWD’ Crossover Will Feature Lennie James On Spinoff

I’m divided about Morgan being the crossover character on FTWD. He’s one of my favorite characters on the show. And Lennie James is always compelling. However, they should’ve created an original character who could crossover between both shows. Morgan being featured on FTWD will only botch TWD’s timeline because FTWD’s timeline (by the end of Season 3) has been two months into the zombie apocalypse. It doesn’t make sense for Morgan to be on the east coast at that point because he was in Atlanta when he first met Rick (after he woke from his two month coma). And he's been on the west coast for most of the apocalypse. This is just another gimmick to boost ratings for both shows. AMC and Gimple don't realize it'll only convolute things. I was fine with neither show crossing over.

 

[Sawyer]

There's always a chance that it doesn't work, but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt because they undoubtedly put more thought and hard work into this than the thought any of us could have in the 3-5ish hours that this has been announced.

Gimple has been the author of much of Morgan's story as we know it. I can't imagine he'd ram something through that just doesn't fit.

Right now, my main thought is if we're in for a [blackout]Duane recast[/blackout].

 

[Elevator Man]

Fear the Walking Dead: First photos of Lennie James on set

AMC revealed last night on Talking Dead that Lennie James and his character of Morgan would be leaving The Walking Dead at the conclusion of season 8 — which just finished filming — and moving over to companion series Fear the Walking Dead. James himself even appeared on Talking Dead as part of the announcement via satellite from Austin, Tex.

That’s because he had to report to set for filming the very next day. And as if to prove it, the network just released the first two images of the actor with cast and producers. In the first image we see James with new showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, who took over for the recently departed Dave Erickson. And in the second image, James is at a table read with costars Colman Domingo, Frank Dillane, and Alycia Debnam-Carey. (That means their characters of Strand, Nick, and Alicia all survived the season 3 finale dam explosion. Yay for them!)

“The hardest part of it from beginning until now has been leaving The Walking Dead,” said James on Talking Dead. “Leaving that cast and leaving that crew. And I’ve said my goodbyes to the cast and stuff, and I’ve said my goodbyes to the crew.” And now we can see him saying hello to a whole new cast and crew.

 

[Sawyer]

I actually had forgotten that it was Morgan's wife's walker that ended up killing the son, because before, I had been thinking that maybe Morgan and Duane left the neighborhood they found Rick in, traveled across the states, encountered Madison, etc. and eventually Duane died there, making Morgan retreat from that particular group and go back to where he started. But if it was the wife... it's not like a single walker is going to perfectly navigate their way to find her son, so that just doesn't work, and now I'm thinking [blackout]time jump[/blackout], which could prove interesting for these characters, considering how things left off.

 

[Elevator Man]

See the first crossover photos of Morgan on Fear the Walking Dead

Lennie James’ long, winding Walking Dead journey has reached a new destination as his character of Morgan will be leaving the original show at the end of season 8 and then moving over to companion series Fear the Walking Dead. And we’ve got the exclusive first photos of the big crossover right here. (See both images below).

Of particular note is that Morgan can be seen carrying his trusty fighting stick in both images, assuring fans that it remains his weapon of choice for taking on foes dead and undead. And what does Morgan’s introduction to Fear mean for both the character and the show, which is now filming season 4? Andrew Chambliss, who, along with Ian Goldberg, has taken over showrunning duties from Dave Erickson (with TWD showrunner Scott M. Gimple overseeing) told EW about the process of crossing over the character.

“As Morgan Jones steps into the world of FTWD, he’ll be continuing the journey he began on The Walking Dead way back in the pilot,” says Chambliss. “Ian and I were huge fans of the character when Lennie James first brought him to life back then, again when he returned in season 3, and finally when he became a series regular in season 6.”

Chambliss also spoke about how their initial meetings with James helped guide the path for the character as he jumps from one show to the other. “When we first met Lennie, he impressed upon us how much he cared about the character and how important it was to him for us to take Morgan to places we hadn’t seen before. It’s been a great challenge to set for ourselves, and it’s what we hope to do with the character — to push Morgan to places he could only get by coming into contact with the characters on Fear. They’ll change him. And, at the same time, he’ll change them.”

Both photos confirm that FTWD will do a major time jump (2 years) in order catch up to TWD;s current timeline. Can't say I'm happy about that.

 

[Elevator Man]

Fear the Walking Dead: Meet the new characters

Lennie James as Morgan and Maggie Grace as Althea

"Althea is someone who is uniquely qualified to survive — to thrive, even — in this world because of who she was before the apocalypse," says co-showrunner Ian Goldberg of the new character being played by Lost alum Maggie Grace. "When we meet her, we'll find she has, in many ways, picked up right where she left off before the world collapsed. She has a number of impressive weapons in her arsenal, including a curiosity and understanding of people that often gives her a tactical advantage. It's never something for nothing with Althea. She has a greater purpose that she is constantly working toward; one which Strand takes a particular interest in."

 

[Elevator Man]

Fear the Walking Dead Season 4 Photos Hint at Monstrous Developments

As Fear the Walking Dead warned us with its calamitous Season 3 finale, these Season 4 photos, released exclusively to TVLine Wednesday, appear to confirm that The Walking Dead offshoot is about to go dark. Very dark.

The cast portraits, full of grim faces and a background so black, it threatens to swallow the actors whole, suggest that under new showrunners Andrew Chambliss (Once Upon a Time) and Ian Goldberg (Dead of Summer) there will be no lightening up of the AMC drama, which returns Sunday, April 10, following TWD’s Season 8 finale. The pictures — among them, shots of new series regulars Lennie James (who’s crossing over Morgan from TWD), Jenna Elfman (Dharma and Greg), Garret Dillahunt (The Mindy Project) and Maggie Grace (Lost) — also reveal which characters’ whose fates were left up in the air at the end of Season 3 still have a pulse going into Season 4.

Per the show’s official logline, in the coming episodes, the Clark family and Morgan’s “immediate past mixes with an uncertain present of struggle and discovery as they meet new friends, foes and threats. They fight for each other, against each other and against a legion of the dead to somehow build an existence against the crushing pressure of lives coming apart. There will be darkness and light; terror and grace; the heroic, mercenary and craven, all crashing together towards a new reality.”

 

[Elevator Man]

Fear the Walking Dead Season 4: ‘A New World to Fear’ Official Teaser

Spoiler

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[KevTravels]

I wonder if Lennie is making more than Kim. Since he's arguably a bigger name than her.

 

[Elevator Man]

Fear the Walking Dead: 'Morgan's Journey' Season 4 Promo

Spoiler

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[Elevator Man]

'The Walking Dead's' Lennie James sticks up for his crossover to 'Fear the Walking Dead'

Lennie James was filled with dread after being summoned to the house of Scott M.Gimple, the showrunner of AMC's "The Walking Dead," several months ago. As he drove, he wondered if he would get out alive.

Actually, the actor was pretty sure that he wouldn't be physically harmed during the visit with Gimple. But he was tremendously worried about the fate of Morgan Jones, the stick-wielding warrior he plays on the zombie apocalypse drama. James knew that even the most beloved "Walking Dead" characters can meet a sudden and violent end.

"I walked into the house feeling like the hangman was behind me," James said.

But instead of joining the ranks of "The Walking Dead" causalities, Gimple gave James surprising news of a different sort: Morgan, one of the most popular characters on the series, was indeed leaving "The Walking Dead." But instead of dying, Morgan would join the show's spinoff, "Fear the Walking Dead."

The character crossover — the first for the franchise — will occur April 15 when the eighth season finale of "The Walking Dead" and the fourth season opener of "Fear the Walking Dead" air back-to-back.

Said James as he sat recently in a downtown Los Angeles restaurant: "I drove home after talking to Scott and gradually let it settle in. And it seems like it made perfect sense."

Morgan's simultaneous departure and arrival was engineered by Gimple, who left his showrunner post on "The Walking Dead" for the newly created post of "chief content officer" for TV's "The Walking Dead" universe, overseeing the original series, the spinoff and future related projects.

While sad to leave his colleagues on "The Walking Dead," James said he was creatively inspired by going to another series that will explore many of the same elements as the original while giving him the opportunity to further develop Morgan.

"I'm very protective of Morgan as a character, and I'm very interested to see where this is going to take him," he said. "I'm buoyed by the things he will get to explore, and I'm excited as an actor."

And naturally, he will be taking his ever-present weapon with him.

"Have stick will travel," he quipped, referencing the formidable wooden stick Morgan wields with uncanny skill and force as he fights off adversaries, both human and nonhuman.

James and his onscreen alter-ego have been central to "The Walking Dead" for most of its run. He was introduced in the drama's premiere as the survivor who tells sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), newly awakened from a coma, that an apocalypse has wiped out the population — and that flesh-eating zombies roam the earth.

Fans have embraced Morgan because of his philosophy of favoring nonviolence in a violent world. "Morgan is a lot braver that me. He's got this zeal, this determination," James said. The show has also boosted James' popularity, particularly when the show's devotees discovered that the veteran actor is actually British. (He plays Morgan with an American accent.)

In the early days of the series, Morgan loses his wife and child. After almost going insane, he becomes more grounded with his growing attachment to the group of survivors headed by Grimes.

But in the past few seasons, the relentless brutality, the violent loss of loved ones and other forces have pushed him to the brink, steering him toward madness. Consumed by darkness, he has become increasingly alienated from his comrades.

"He's already lost his wife and child, so the darkness is inevitable," James said. "But he's been to his rock bottom. He knows he has to do something about that."

Although it's been highly publicized that Morgan is going from one "Walking Dead" series to another, producers are keeping the circumstances behind the transition under wraps. But it's clear from his entrance into a new environment that the challenges facing Morgan are far from over.

"Fear the Walking Dead" is centered primarily on Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) and her family, who had to flee Los Angeles when the undead began to take over the metropolis. The new season of the spinoff takes place in Texas. ("The Walking Dead" is set in Atlanta.)

Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, the new showrunners of the spinoff, said that many of the themes the series addressed this season — isolation, loss. grief and survival — fit in perfectly with Morgan's journey.

"Scott told us that the space where Morgan is now fits in perfectly with where we're going," said Chambliss. "It became inevitable that we would be coming together. Morgan is the perfect character to take this family further."

"Both of us are such huge fans of Morgan, and of Lennie's performance," Goldberg said. "When we first sat down with him, we could see immediately that he knew Morgan inside and out. He was very adamant that we not repeat what he had done on 'The Walking Dead.' He really wants to honor the character and go on a new path."

Before departing "The Walking Dead," James was the guest of honor at one of the show's infamous "death dinners," held whenever a cast member leaves the series. "I thought I would get through it with dry eyes," he said. "That didn't happen."

Now he's looking forward to Morgan's new adventures.

"I'm really happy with what I've done on the show," said James, "and I have such enthusiasm for where Morgan is going. He's got a new lease on life. It will be interesting to see what he does with it."

 

[Elevator Man]

Fear the Walking Dead: Morgan will still be a loner on new show

Morgan has not exactly been what you would call a “people person” in his tenure on The Walking Dead. Sure, he was Rick’s first post-apocalyptic buddy back in the pilot episode, but since then, he’s often been either crazy, on a killing spree, or on a crazy killing spree. And lately, he’s also turned into something of a loner — occasionally appearing to go murder some Saviors, but otherwise keeping to himself.

And now it looks as if the Morgan that we will see on Fear the Walking Dead will also be keeping to himself, or at least trying to. We spoke to Scott M. Gimple, who as overseer of the AMC franchise has come on board along with new showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg for the retooled season 4, and he says that while Morgan (played by Lennie James) would still just assume be alone on the companion series, he will be forced to interact with others. Read on for more details on what to expect from Morgan and the show in general for Fear’s season 4.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What would you say is the biggest difference between the first three seasons of Fear and season 4? How is the show going to feel and look a little bit different?
SCOTT M. GIMPLE: When I brought Andrew and Ian into this thing, it was about not rolling over what Fear of the Walking Dead has been for three seasons. People dig that show. We dig that show. And we weren’t looking to lose things as much as add things, to add and integrate certain story values from The Walking Dead that come from the comic, that come from the pilot of the show, which continues to be the Rosetta Stone and the way that we’ve been telling stories all these years. We want Fear the Walking Dead to be completely its own thing, but to have some aspects of it — just the approach to storytelling that feels like the comic and the pilot and I guess the show itself. And so it was just sort of integrating new approaches while keeping so much of the stuff that’s great.

You’ve been the Morgan guy, writing most of his big episodes over the years. How does him moving over to the other show in the other place with the other people change his story in terms of where he goes from here?
Well, to land where he does when he does from where he is in his own life, and then where the other people’s lives are, it’s going to change him and he’s going to change other people. And in some ways, it’s for better, and in some ways for worse, but in many ways, he doesn’t want to be with people. And he’s reluctantly connecting with these people. He doesn’t want to, and it challenges what he wants for himself currently.

The thing that has been so exciting about seeing Morgan interacting with these characters, is that there is so much emotionally at stake with all these interactions. There’s a lot of gravity to it. Nobody is just passing each other a sandwich. Yeah, I love Morgan’s story, and it’s a story that I’ve worked on a great deal and have spent a lot of the last few years thinking about. And him moving onto Fear was just about telling more of his story and the way that his story could activate certain things in those Fear characters and these new characters.

How much of the season 4 focus will be on the new characters — because there are a lot of them — and how much will be on the Clark family and characters that have already been there?
It is absolutely about the interplay of those characters. It’s like putting together a rock band or something like that. People have to be able to work with each other. They have to have a chemistry. The characters, just from a narrative point of view, have to offer different things and bring out different things in each other. And I’ve been really excited to see the band that we have because seeing them all play together has been exciting. When you look at Nick, Luciana, or Alicia, or Madison — even just where the characters are themselves as O.G. characters, they start in a very different place than we left them. I’ve been really, really excited with every episode that we finish.

I will say, Mikey Satrazemis, the producing director down there, big Walking Dead alumni — and will still be working on Walking Dead directing — what he’s brought to it down there has been amazing. And I love working with Andrew and Ian, and the things that they push forward and bring to bear.