Fear the Walking Deads Alycia DebnamCarey Talks Season 6s New Perspective

Actor Alycia Debnam-Carey talks with CBR about the Fear the Walking Dead Season 6 midseason finale and what's to come in 2021.

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead Season 6, Episode 7, "Damage From the Inside," which aired Sunday on AMC.

"I can't do your way."

Those words from Alicia Clark (Alycia Debnam-Carey) during Fear the Walking Dead's midseason finale resound profoundly for the character. So far in Season 6, Alicia has been at the mercy of others' plans, whether it be working under Virginia (Colby Minifie) or trusting in Strand's (Colman Domingo) plans of an eventual coup. Throughout "Damage From the Inside," she goes back and forth on her various relationships, specifically with Virginia's sister Dakota (Zoe Colletti). By the end of the episode, she's taken pity on the young girl, bringing her with them to Morgan's (Lennie James) new compound. But the decision is far from simple, and her confrontation with the survivors' leader shows we could be in store for a brand-new Alicia.

CBR talked with Alycia Debnam-Carey about her reaction to Alicia's arc so far, her changing relationships with Strand and Morgan, and what we can expect from her in the second half of Season 6.

CBR: Before this episode, the last time we saw Alicia, Virginia had separated her from Strand following everything at the molasses factory. What's been going on for Alicia and Charlie in the time between episodes?

Alycia Debnam-Carey: She's been placed on lookout duty, keeping the settlement safe. That allows her to do her own job of figuring out a potential escape plan and how to move forward. She's also been setting up a lifeline for her and Charlie, preparing to potentially separate from the bigger group to get a sense of security. She's decided the best way to do this is to do it isolated and alone.

We hear that Alicia hasn't been talking to Strand in weeks, but she chooses to take his distress call this episode that ropes her into everything going on. Why did she choose to do that at this particular moment?

There's a hard dynamic going on between the two of them. Alicia knows Strand the longest. They've been on this journey since the inception of the zombie apocalypse. In a way, he's so fundamental to her growth, as well as the ins and outs of the Clark family. He's become a part of her family. Yet she's also very aware of who he was, and who he can be. Which is, in essence, a con man. She'd like to believe that deep in him is a solid truth of hope and goodness. But at the same time, there's a lot of chess playing and manipulation coming through. It's an interesting dynamic. Because she's seeing his desire to manage the situation, she's realizing it may be better without him in the picture.

Alicia's plan revolves around going back to the Dell Diamond Baseball Stadium. Why do you think she chose that location, considering everything that's happened since those days?

There's a lot to be said about her trying to let go of certain figures in her past. For Alicia, there's this journey that needs to happen for her to extricate herself from the memories of her mother and brother, and potentially how she got here to move forward and become her own person. Her rejecting Strand is her coming to the realization that the only thing she can be certain of is herself. It's only been more confirmed the more we go into this episode.

Speaking of those past figures, talk to me about Alicia's confrontation with Morgan. The two spar over what to do with Dakota. And though she leaves behind the stadium idea to become part of his group again, she does get him to Dakota with them.

The confrontation with Morgan makes it really settle in that Alicia is willing to go on her own path if she believes it's the right choice. She'd adapted all these characteristics from mentors and leaders in previous seasons. She's cherry-picking what she wants to use, and how best to use them, while balancing a duality in herself.

How do you think Morgan's new behaviors have changed the relationship between the two of them?

She finds their situation quite confronting and surprising. Alicia knows Strand, in his essence, is still a con man. To see Morgan come out with this new side of himself is almost threatening. She doesn't know what that opens up going down the line. It reinforces her need to stand by her own choices and not be influenced by others. While I do think Alicia and Morgan have a lot of similarities, and have made some of the same decisions, I think she's starting to realize there needs to be different reasons why or why not to do something. Him killing the Rangers is an interesting perspective shift for her.

Let's move from old characters into new characters, specifically Dakota. It's clear Virginia's younger sister sees something in Alicia that goes to a whole new level in this episode, which Alicia then uses as collateral. What's your take on Alicia's varying thoughts on Dakota?

It speaks to a balancing act that Alicia is always trying to wrestle with. She wants to make sure she's making the right decision which ensures her and Charlie's safety. So that could mean using Dakota as a chess piece, or keeping her cards close to her chest. At the same time, she recognizes Dakota is a broken girl, just as Charlie was and just as Alicia herself was. Alicia has a collection of broken girls! [Laughs.] It speaks to her hope, compassion, and desire to speak to the goodness in people, rather than discard them. That is what makes her so unique. She is always trying to reach that aspect in people. That's the core of who she is. But it's frustrating, because it can sometimes get her in trouble. It would be better if she could let go of some of that destruction, frustration, and anger, which she also sees in those young girls.

The storyline with Ed teaches an important lesson to Alicia: You can create things that destroy the people you care about. How does that inform the character moving forward?

There's a metaphor in this episode, seeing what Ed goes through. Creating and becoming the monster. It's great classic horror, a Frankenstein tale. It resonated with her. She's seen it with herself and Charlie, and she doesn't want to see it in Dakota. It goes back to what I said before about picking things up from people in the past. Alicia tells Morgan, "I can't do it your way." And it's an epiphany for her to realize that she doesn't need to be a Morgan or a Strand or a Virginia. She can be an Alicia.

We just concluded the first half of season six. What can we expect to see when Fear the Walking Dead returns in 2021?

It comes back to that perspective shift with Morgan. We'll see her develop it further in the second half of the season. When is it reasonable and when is it not? When do you play chess, and when do you choose compassion? We'll see her make a choice that will define her going forward. And we'll see her be forced into positions that will change who she is. It'll isolate her into being the person that she needs to be.

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.