Morgan to Leave 'Walking Dead'
by EG
One of the most-liked characters from The Walking Dead will be leaving that series and moving to the spinoff series, Fear The Walking Dead. Morgan, who is played by Lennie James, will exit the parent series in an as-yet-unknown way and reappear on the prequel series next season. The move comes as both TWD and FTWD are struggling with their ratings; TWD is currently drawing ratings on a par with its second season in 2011, and FTWD saw steadily declining ratings through its most recent season. The crossover gamibt, which is no doubt intended to shore up audiences of both series, is risky, given that Morgan is one of the most popular characters on TWD, and the audience for FTWD is far smaller than that of the parent series.
AMC's The Walking Dead is set to see one series regular jump to spinoff series Fear the Walking Dead.
Fan favorite Lennie James is officially moving from the flagship to the prequel, in which he will continue to play Morgan Jones. The announcement was made Sunday when James was a surprise guest on Talking Dead.
"Morgan's arc in The Walking Dead season eight positioned him for the story on Fear the Walking Dead," Walking Dead showrunner Scott M. Gimple said via a statement read by Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick. "It was also important to see Fear's world and characters through new, yet familiar eyes."
For his part, James said he begins filming Fear on Monday, with his scenes to be streamed live via the show's social media accounts.
The actor, who was the first person Rick (Andrew Lincoln) encountered after waking up from his coma in the show's pilot, wrapped production on the Atlanta-set Walking Dead days ago and appeared on Talking Dead via satellite from Austin, Texas, where the show is moving its production.
"From the very first moment the whole suggestion of Morgan going over to Fear The Walking Dead, the hardest part of that, from beginning to now, has been leaving The Walking Dead," James said. "Leaving that cast, leaving that crew. I've said my goodbyes to the cast and I've said my goodbyes to the crew... That show stands or falls on the back of that crew. And I'm going to miss them very much."
James move to Fear the Walking Dead also confirms news that THR previously reported — that the prequel series is moving its filming location to Texas — a shift that was set up in the finale's narrative as a new villain (Ray McKinnon) set sail for "what's left of Houston" with Alicia (co-star Alycia Debnam-Carey).
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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