Fear The Walking Dead’s new series kicks off with most shocking death yet
The Zombie drama's third season launched with a two-parter
FEAR The Walking dead returned to screens last night and left fans stunned when its lead character was killed off.
The AMC zombie drama kicked off its third season with an action-packed two-parter which saw Travis Manawa (Cliff Curtis) fall to his death from a helicopter after being shot in the neck.
In the first episode Travis managed to heroically defeat a horde of zombies in a gladiatorial battle inside a Mexican compound using only cinder blocks and an iron bar.
So it was all the more surprising in the second instalment when he was fatally maimed while escaping the hell hole in a chopper alongside Alicia Clark (Alycia Debnam Carey).
Out of nowhere, a volley of bullets rained on the helicopter from the darkness, with one striking Travis in the neck.
Rather than risk the safety of the crew by finding somewhere to treat him on the ground, Travis fell backwards out of the craft and plunged to his death.
Fans of the show were stunned by the episode, taking to Twitter to share their surprise.
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One wrote: "Just catching up on fear of the walking dead. Damn Travis"
Another said: "I cried so hard when Travis died in fear the walking dead. I'm still crying."
A third posted: "I seriously shed tears for Travis on Fear the Walking Dead. 😢"
While someone else commented: "R.I.P. Travis...went out as a hero. Wonderful premier. Love 😍 Fear The Walking Dead."
Discussing his character on AMC's blog, Cliff said Travis's character traits didn't lend themselves to surviving in an apocalyptic world.
He said: "He was a good guy, but he was so laboured by his sense of ethics and values and what's right. Being a good man is not good for you in the apocalypse. It's kind of a problem in this world.
"I think one of the themes on the show is that the people are more dangerous than the zombies. The real danger in this world is how distorted humanity becomes when it's solely focused on survival.
"Morality, values and ethics all go out the window. It's about how you can survive the next 10 minutes and protect the people that are going to help protect you because you can't survive alone."
Meanwhile, the actor recently landed the biggest role of his career to date - he'll play leading character Tonowari in the next four Avatar films.
The film's roducer Jon Landau told the New Zealand Herald: "No one shines brighter than Cliff a shining example of the extraordinary creative talents from New Zealand's film community that have drawn us to produce our films in the country."
Fear the Walking Dead airs Mondays at 9pm on AMC, exclusive to BT
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