'Fear TWD' showrunners said star was 'disappointed' and 'heartbroken' by the big reveal on Sunday's mid-season premiere
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Kirsten Acuna
Apr 12, 2021, 08:55 IST
John makes a huge mistake and gives his gun to the wrong person of "Fear TWD" season six, episode eight.Ryan Green/AMC
Warning: There are massive spoilers ahead for season six, episode eight of "Fear TWD," "The Door."
A major character gets killed off in an unexpected moment near the episode's end.
Showrunners told Insider the actor was a bit disappointed, but understood it was right for the show.
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Sunday's mid-season premiere of "Fear the Walking Dead" culminated with an unexpected massive death.
After learning that Dakota killed Cameron a few episodes back, John found himself at the end of his own gun barrel. Dakota decided she couldn't trust John to keep the secret when he made it his life's mission to try and find Cameron's real killer.
Before John could finish making a case for his life in a heartfelt speech, Dakota ruthlessly shot him, shocking John, before pushing him off a bridge into a river below as he bled out.
"We had been planning that this would be John Dorie's exit early in season six," co-showrunner Andrew Chambliss told Insider over Zoom of how long they had mapped out the character's death.
"We were really looking for a cost, both emotional and practical that came out of Virginia's kind of reign over all of our characters and we wanted a loss that would really hurt - that would hurt kind of as many characters as possible, would hurt the audience, and honestly would hurt us," Chambliss continued.
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The result was one of the most heartbreaking deaths we've seen in awhile, not only on "Fear TWD," but in the "TWD" universe at large, as fans watched Dorie slowly plunge into the body of water and then try and fight his way to survival, floating down the river.
When June finally found her husband washing up ashore, it was too late. John succumbed to his injury and turned into one of the undead.
It was a full-circle moment on the show as John first met June in season four when she washed up unconscious in a boat in front of his home.
"John Dorie was one of our favorite characters and Garret Dillahunt just brought him to life in such a wonderful way that making that decision was really tough, but ultimately we needed something that would really seismically shift the trajectory of a bunch of characters," Chambliss said.
"When we kind of laid it all out and everything was pointing to John Dorie, we had that moment of, 'Oh no, we don't want to do this, but it's right for the story. It's what's right for the show," Chambliss added.
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The "Fear TWD" showrunners told Insider that Dillahunt's departure from the series "was a story decision" and not an ask from the actor to be killed off.
When asked what the conversation was like with Dillahunt when they revealed he would be killed off the show, co-showrunner Ian Goldberg said the actor "really responded" to the storytelling they were doing on season six.
At the start of Sunday's episode, John is in a really dark place, ready to take his own life. By the episode's end, he realizes he wants to live, and gives it his all in his final moments to try and find someone to help him before he bleeds out.
"I think Garret, by his own, admission really likes kind of getting into those darker corners of the characters that he plays. That's something we hadn't seen a lot from John Dorie in seasons four and five. He's very much one of the most hopeful, bright, optimistic characters on the show," Goldberg said.
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"Garret was very excited when we previewed for him that we were going to be taking John to his darkest, most desperate places," Goldberg continued. "When we did tell him that this was going to be his exit, he was disappointed and, I think, heartbroken in the same ways that we were, but also understood that this was the right thing for the character, the right thing for the show at the right time."
Sunday's episode was originally supposed to air last year as "Fear's" mid-season finale until the show was forced to shut down production last March.
"We ended up shutting down like a day and a half before we finished shooting 608 because of the pandemic," Chambliss said. "It's been something that we've been sitting on for a very long time. So it's exciting to finally share this story with the world."
Expect John's death to have massive repercussions as the back-half of the season continues.
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