It's finally official: we now know which Walking Dead character will be heading to prequel series Fear the Walking Dead in what is sure to be an exciting universe crossover.
And it's Morgan Jones, played by Lennie James, who we'll be seeing in season four of Fear the Walking Dead.
Surprised? Well, so was Lennie, who confirmed the news on Sunday's (November 26) instalment of Talking Dead.
"The hardest part of it… has been leaving The Walking Dead – leaving that cast, leaving that crew," he said.
"I'm really looking forward to exploring Morgan in a whole different world, with different characters, in a different place."
Yes, it seems Morgan is leaving The Walking Dead at the end of season eight, suggesting that he may be killed off.
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"Even though Morgan is going to be featured on Fear, he has a lot of story left on The Walking Dead," said Walking Dead showrunner Scott M Gimple in a statement read out by Hardwick on air.
"Morgan's arc in The Walking Dead season eight positioned him for the story on Fear the Walking Dead. It was also important to see Fear's world and characters through new, yet familiar eyes."
And Lennie will start filming on the spin-off show today (Monday, November 27). You'll be able to see a livestream from his first day on set, starting at 4pm ET (9pm UK time).
It's not clear at this stage how the crossover will work. Being a prequel, Fear could explore Morgan's backstory further before he reunited with Rick at the end of season five. Another possibility is a time jump for Fear season four, taking place after The Walking Dead season eight.
Speculation had surrounded the identity of the crossover character after AMC revealed in October that one person would switch shows.
Many astute fans immediately pointed to the prospect of Michael Cudlitz's Abraham as that character, pointing to a few signs – including a couple of cryptic tweets.
Further signs came after it was revealed that season four of the spin-off show would take place in Houston, Texas – where Abraham grew up and lived when the zombie outbreak first hit.
In the season three two-part finale, villain Proctor John (Ray McKinnon) discussed opening a trade route which includes Houston.
Then, the fourth season began filming earlier this month in – you guessed it – Texas.
Although, all that detective work turned out to be wrong in the end.
Fear the Walking Dead's upcoming fourth season will launch sometime in 2018.
The Walking Dead airs on AMC in the US and on FOX and NOW TV in the UK, while Fear the Walking Dead airs on AMC in the US and BT TV in the UK.
Kate (they/she) is a freelance writer, editor, digital editorial trainer and data technician who first joined Digital Spy as an overnight freelance sub-editor in January 2011, after studying a postgraduate diploma in journalism at Salford University while working part-time as a social researcher.
In July 2013, Kate joined the DS staff team as chief sub-editor and following six years as the site's managing editor, their role expanded to incorporate Hearst UK's entertainment portfolio (including Digital Spy and its sibling titles Best and Inside Soap) between late 2024 and early 2026.
Kate has worked as a writer and editor since 2006, with bylines syndicated across the Hearst network and at organisations including Metro. They started their career as a TV production runner for the BBC and contributed to various music websites, blogs and zines while based in Manchester.
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Kate's team at Digital Spy were proudly nominated in the Best Subbing/Production Team category at the BSME Talent Awards 2022. Over the years, she has contributed to coverage of many, many Prime Days and Black Friday/Cyber Monday, and was part of the team that launched the DS weekly TV newsletter in November 2019 – followed by the Top of the Shops e-commerce newsletter in May 2024.
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