WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead Season 6, Episode 3, "Alaska," which aired Sunday on AMC.
Three years and eight months. That's how long fans of The Walking Dead have been waiting for estranged married couple Dwight (Austin Amelio) and Sherry (Christine Evangelista) to reunite. After she escaped from the Sanctuary in The Walking Dead Season 7, he went on the search for her, eventually leading him to join up with the Fear the Walking Dead survivors. Up to this point, there had been only hints of Sherry's presence, including Virginia's (Colby Minifie) tease that she had seen her, as well as a possible hallucinated voice over the radio.
That all changed in "Alaska." The third episode of Season 6 had Dwight actually focusing his romanticism on Althea (Maggie Grace), who is on her own search for "beer girl" Isabelle (Sydney Lemmon). Resigned to never see Sherry again, he commits to helping her flag down a Civic Republic Military helicopter, even getting the bubonic plague in the process. And it's just when he least expects it that Dwight gets the shocker of a lifetime. Sherry's voice comes on over the radio, and the two tearfully and wordlessly fall into each other's arms.
CBR talked with Austin Amelio about his reaction to the reunion, Dwight's new relationship with Al, and what we can expect from him and Sherry in the rest of Season 6.
CBR: Of course, we have to start with the end, as Dwight and Sherry finally reunite. What was your reaction when you found out that would be happening in this episode?
Austin Amelio: Very excited. This has been Dwight's storyline for so long. You want it to pay off. You put a lot of time and emotion into it. There was definitely a part of me that thought it would never happen. Christine is a great actress, so she's been working a bunch. I figured there was no way she would be able to come back around. So when they were able to get her, it was amazing. We were able to tie the knot on that part of the storyline.
What was it like to work again with Christine?
We picked up right where we left off. There was no rust at all. Once you share that experience of going onto a show as big as The Walking Dead together, especially as new cast members, you're bonded forever. No one else will have that specific experience that we did. Plus we were able to act together as husband and wife. It was as easy as saying, "Welcome back. It's about time. Let's go."
What complicates things further is that Shery seemed to leave Dwight because of what he did in the past. I can imagine he'll be eager to prove to her that he's a changed man.
You're going to see a man try to position himself in a spot where he doesn't want to cross the line and be who he was when she left. It's going to get pretty interesting, to be honest. Things arise in this world that are hard to handle and bring up emotions. He's been at ease with himself and where he's at. But now Sherry's here. It's like fitting two puzzle pieces together. But one was wet and is now a little screwed up. You try to squeeze them together, but it's harder than before. It's going to get interesting, that's for sure.
On top of that, Sherry has assumedly gone on her own journey off-screen, from the dribs and drabs we know. Will we find out more about her own activities now that she's back?
Oh yeah, big time. It's really cool.
Let's move on to Al, who also has an interesting relationship with Dwight from this episode. I know "Alaska" takes place six weeks after the Season 5 finale, but it seems like what they're doing is completely different from what we even saw Alicia and Strand doing last week.
We're going to see where people are, namely who's alive. We've been doing that for a while now. We're out "on parole" from the settlements, scouting out locations on behalf of Virginia.
When we find Dwight and Al, they seem to have a pretty chummy relationship. Especially when he decides to help her pursue Isabelle, which I can imagine stems from him sympathizing with Al's situation.
It's what happens. When someone else goes through something similar, it's really easy to attach yourself to them. Especially with such a broken man as Dwight. You don't just see it, you feel it. He's going to go all in for her at that point. He knows how important that is, and what that can do for your life. That's his M.O. from here on out.
Al compares Dwight to her late brother in this episode. Is that what you would compare their dynamic to?
That's what we were shooting for in that episode. We wanted to give depth to these people. You find out that they've been going out and clearing areas for six weeks. They've done hundreds of these. Imagine going on hundreds of camping trips with someone. After that, you're going to know the ins and outs of them. It's to the point where it becomes a game, and they need to start getting creative with it. That's what we wanted it to feel like.
Dwight ends up getting afflicted with the plague this episode. And despite the danger, he almost seems to be fine if he does die, still pushing to help Al. Talk me through Dwight's attitude.
At this point, he's thinking, "I've come to be at peace with who I am. We've been trying to help people. If I go, I go."
Well, Dwight does survive his diagnosis, and now he's back with Sherry. What does the journey look like for Dwight now moving forward?
It definitely won't be as light as this episode. I'll say that.
Airing Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC, Fear the Walking Dead is executive produced by Scott M. Gimple and showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, as well as Robert Kirkman, David Alpert, Gale Anne Hurd and Greg Nicotero. The series stars Lennie James, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Colman Domingo and more.