FEAR THE WALKING DEAD CLIFF…ER…HANGER! NOOOOOOOOOOO!

DID THAT JUST HAPPEN? A combine, shout from the office erupts. One of the original cast dramatically exited the show during the season 3 premiere, after a heroic battle to safe his family.

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Travis Manawa was dramatically killed off in Fear the Walking Dead season 3 premiere on Monday night (June 5th).

Cliff Curtis’s popular character, who has been part of the show from the beginning, threw himself from a helicopter after he was injured by gunfire.

Travis opted to kill himself rather than put Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) in danger on the helicopter or force her to stop him from turning into an infected.

Earlier in the premiere, Travis had defeated a pit of infected walkers in a nail-biting sequence and also successfully reunited his lover Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) with her son Nick (Frank Dillane). The family reunion offered Travis some peace after he tragically lost his own son Chris at the end of season 2.

Showrunner Dave Erickson

Travis’ death was always playing in the back of my mind. As soon as he saved Nick, I think that Travis was done.  I think that was the last chapter.  He needed to atone for what he saw as a failure, his loss of Chris. There was a version where that story arched out a bit longer, but then we made a decision to reconnect Madison and Nick sooner rather than later.

So the story is the same, it just became a bit more immediate. I also think for the purposes of the narrative, losing him early, it definitely has an impact on Maddie and on Alicia who has to be with him in the moment that he is lost.

We will eventually come to realize who is responsible for shooting down the helicopter… and the people responsible may end up not being as nefarious as we might initially think.

Obviously if you’re going to lose a character especially, one of your core family members, you want to make sure it has a dramatic impact on the people surrounding you – and I think we did that.

Kim Dickens – Madison Clark

It was so sad for us.  I mean I got a call phone before we went into production just to let everyone know.  And I immediately called Cliff . Cliff and Frank Dillane and Alycia and I were the first ones that arrived for production this season.  And we all just had time together and bonded and talked about it.  It’s so hard for us to lose parts of the family.  You get really close.”

Cliff Curtis – Travis Manawa

Thanks to the fans for supporting the show. It was a great ride and I had a great time. I loved everybody that I worked with. I think Season 3 is going to be the best season yet. It’s going to be a really strong season and I wish everybody well. I hope the audience continues to enjoy the show.

SO WHERE NOW FOR THE MIGHTY NEWZEALANDER?

JUST LIKE SASHA (Star Trek) FROM THE WALKING DEAD, Cliff Curtis has been head-hunted for his role in James Cameron’s next four Avatar films – set to be released between 2020 and 2025.

Cliff has spoken for the first-time about being head-hunted for a lead role in the next four Avatar movies.

The Kiwi actor, seen by many as our top export to Hollywood, said he couldn’t be happier with the new role.

“It was totally left of field,” he said from Auckland airport before taking a flight to Los Angeles.

“Just the way they’ve conducted this, the way they’ve put it together, the way they approached me about it – it’s a real dream process, I don’t think it gets any better than that.”

While Cliff Curtis has made highly-regarded films like The Dark Horse in New Zealand, he’s done nothing on the scale of Avatar before.

New Zealand-based director James Cameron and US producer Jon Landau announced the news this week that Curtis was set to play Tonowari, the leader of the Metkayina, the reef people clan in the next four films that are expected to be released between 2020 and 2025.

Avatar, one of the highest-grossing films of all time, delivered themes and technological features that really called to Curtis.

James Cameron, the award-winning director of films like Titanic, The Terminator and True Lies, is expected to experiment with some out-of-this world production and technology during the four-film shoot.

However, details of that side of the project are still being kept under wraps!