Interview: Kim Dickens on Madison Embracing Brutality in FEAR THE WALKING DEAD Season 3

You don't want to get in Madison Clark's way when it comes to her family. In the midst of the living dead apocalypse, Madison (played by Kim Dickens) has proved to be a cunning, calculating, and ever-resourceful survivor who can keep both herself and her family safe. Season 3 of Fear The Walking Dead will prove to be the most dangerous one yet for the Clarks, and with the third season recently kicking off with back-to-back episodes on AMC, I had the great pleasure of speaking with Kim Dickens about what's next for one of the most enigmatic characters in The Walking Dead universe.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with me and congratulations on a great start to the third season of Fear The Walking Dead. They did not waste any time getting into the really grimy, physical aspects of the show. Madison especially goes through the wringer in these first couple of episodes and it looked like you had a lot of fun getting to do the action in those first scenes.

Kim Dickens: Oh yeah, it was great. It's definitely pretty grueling to do all of that physical stuff. And we had a beast of a scene with Daniel Sharman, who plays a new character named Troy Otto. Madison and Troy have quite a beast of a fight scene that we shot over the majority of two days, and I'm really excited to see how that sequence plays out.

I was told before I started the season by the showrunner [Dave Erickson], "Look, just be prepared for Madison to go really dark, really fast."

The whole dynamic between Madison and Troy is one of the more fascinating aspects of this season, and it's been nice to see those two almost playing a chess game with each other. You're keeping him on his toes as much as he's keeping Madison on her toes.

Kim Dickens: Yeah, I really love that dynamic that they wrote for us. It's been pretty cool chess moves to play, a bit of cat and mouse for sure. That fight sequence was around the first day or so when I met Daniel. So we just jumped right in. He's a great actor, he's such a professional, and shortly after meeting him, I was on his back, full weight [laughs]. But it was fun, he's a great addition to the family. They all are. Dayton Callie, of course, is my old pal from Deadwood.

It's fitting, then, that you two are on a ranch in this season. There's such an interesting dynamic between you and the Otto family, where Madison has slipped into their world and is really playing a chess match with everybody. She's very dark this season, but she's also very cunning and is playing "the game" to keep her family safe.

Kim Dickens: Yeah, I think Madison goes dark, and she realizes that she sacrifices morals along the way. She realizes that brutality is currency at this point and that there's no looking back for her. Even though the end she's striving for may be a pure end—a positive, benign place to be—the means to get there, you have to be willing to be brutal. That's why we begin to see Madison become a leader, because it takes those qualities that you don't see in every character.

She's willing to do things that other characters would shy away from. She's become the risk-taker of the group. It's been fun to see her kids surprised at some of the things that she does in this season. It's almost like they're thinking, I didn't know mom was capable of doing that. But she can really hold her own.

Kim Dickens: Yeah, that's a fun dynamic to play out, too, the honesty of a child being like, "Whoa, really mom?" I've been doing press with Frank Dillane and Colman Domingo and Frank said in one of the interviews that he thought of Madison as Mother Nature, because she's completely willing to be vicious. It's just part of the world we live in, that's what it takes. I thought that was an interesting metaphor.

Yeah, she can unleash the storm when she needs to. Coming back to the show for its third season, was it easier to get back into this world now that you've really spent some time with the characters? The cast really seems like they're a family on and off the set. Did it feel like you were stepping back into a familiar world?

Kim Dickens: Definitely, we're becoming more at home with the characters and the world and it is our second year in Mexico, so it was definitely an easier transition this year. But that said, our locations and storylines within Mexico have changed, so it's been harder in some ways—the demands of the story, and the role has been more physically challenging. There have been a lot more rustic locations, so it always keeps us on our toes. Nothing stays the same and gets simple—it's not a lot of work at the studios. Whenever we get a day in the studios, we're like, "Oh my God, the studios! This is so great." Usually it's very remote.

That speaks to the authenticity of the show, because one of the great things about Fear The Walking Dead is that each season has covered so much ground. We were in Los Angeles and then we were on the water with modern-day pirates and then we were in Tijuana and now we're back to the border and in the desert. It almost feels like the show has been on as long as The Walking Dead. For me, that's one of the biggest draws of the show, that you see so many diverse areas in the apocalypse.

Kim Dickens: That's been fun for us, too. We're always surprised each season with where we go. When we finished season 1, we had no idea that season 2 we were going to be on a boat. And we were never so happy to hit land again, because boat work was hard. Now we're on this really beautiful, majestic ranch that is literally off the grid to get there. There are horses and animals everywhere. I wonder where next year will be. Who knows?

When you're in these environments, do you get a chance to explore and enjoy them a little bit in your downtime?

Kim Dickens: I've been in most of the days, and then when I have days off, I have to run home to LA, but a lot of the cast has been able to explore a lot more. They've been to Mexico City, which they adore. We did do some shooting last season in Valle de Guadalupe, which is in wine country, so we visited there quite a bit. That is stunning, and the wines are really beautiful there. There is so much to explore and there's more for me to explore, but the majority of the cast has really taken advantage of that.

One of the most fascinating things about Madison is that there is still this mystery to her—it's something that fans like to debate and Chris Hardwick has brought it up on Talking Dead. Is this a season where we're going to learn more about Madison and her background?

Kim Dickens: This season we will definitely learn more about Madison's background and what has informed who she is and what she's tried to suppress in herself, and what she has in turn been able to utilize now.

Looking ahead at this new season, is there anything in particular that you're the most excited for fans to experience?

Kim Dickens: For me, this has been the most exciting season just because we have all donned our apocalyptic personas. We understand now how widespread and global the event is, so for me this season is just like, "Game on." The episodes felt really filmic and epic in a way, and I just think it's going to be a really exciting turn for the audience. It takes off with a blast. Lots of interesting storylines come up and I think it's going to be a great season. I hope everyone enjoys it.

Before I let you go, I know you have a film coming up called Lizzie with director Craig William Macneill. Is there anything you can tell us about that project?

Kim Dickens: Well, I play Emma Borden, who is Lizzie Borden's older sister. It's about Lizzie Borden, who murdered her father and stepmother, supposedly, in 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts, and it becomes sort of a horror film in a way, or psychological thriller. I thought the script was just incredible and I felt very fortunate to get to play the role alongside Chloë Sevigny, who plays Lizzie Borden, and Kristen Stewart, who plays the maid who was in the house at the time of the murders. It was really exciting material, and it was great to go work with Chloë and Kristen and Craig, who's a phenomenal director.

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Fear The Walking Dead Season 3 premieres with back-to-back new episodes on Sunday, June 4th at 9:00pm ET on AMC. Keep an eye on Daily Dead for more coverage of the series and interviews with the cast, and in case you missed it, check out our interview with Colman Domingo.