Fear the Walking Dead Director Breaks Down Season 6s Nuclear Finale

Fear the Walking Dead director Michael Satrazemis shares his favorite moments from Season 6's finale and the challenges of large-scale SFX explosions.

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead Season 6, Episode 16, "The Beginning," which aired Sunday on AMC.

Fear the Walking Dead Season 6 went out with a literal bang. Season 6, Episode 16, "The Beginning" shifts perspective between the zombie series' various protagonists, showing audiences what the characters suspect might be their final moments alive. Despite the heroes' best efforts, Teddy ignited a nuclear missile containing ten warheads. As the protagonists contended with the aftermath, hard decisions were made, villains were killed and some characters came to intense realizations. It was a finale filled with heartfelt drama.

In an interview with CBR, Fear the Walking Dead director Michael E. Satrazemis discussed the finale's practical challenges when creating explosive SFX and his favorite moments from the finale. Satrazemis also revisited one of Fear the Walking Dead's most unique episodes, "In Dreams," and shared his joy at creatively depicting Grace's subconscious.

CBR: First of all, I didn't realize that changing a tire could be so stressful. That scene really sets the tone for this episode. I know things are often shot and written out of order, but was that always intended to be the opening sequence?

Michael E. Satrazemis: Yeah, it was for exactly that. We wanted to tone the episode and the season, for that matter, and maybe even tone parts of the future. It was a tough opening, a hard opening, but I think it was powerful. I loved it. But it was written that way. That was the intention to come in hard.

What was your gut reaction when finding out you were closing out Season 6?

I was excited! I love the anthological structure we did this season. It really puts all the episodes on point. They're not typical openers and closers. This one was. It included the entire cast, but also it did something that nobody in their right minds would do -- launching nuclear weapons.

That was just not something you'd never expect. You'd expect for one to go up, but for somebody to find a way [to stop it] or for it to be a dud. You just don't expect it for weapons to start wiping the Earth. It was neat to explore that and I think it will be neat to explore the future.

This episode is filled with things that go boom, and there's dust everywhere. What was the most significant challenge when dealing with, literally, such an explosive episode?

It was just that -- the practical visual effect element, trying to represent force and wind on a scale where you blot out the sun, and you cover the Earth. That's literally what we did. We got 25 effects guys with multiple dust mortars that are giant cannons that shoot out dust 300 yards. You have to pray the wind is working in your favor [laughs]. Every once in a while, it switched and went through us. Those huge events that were created practically took a minute to wash through us on set. So, we all looked like powdered donuts.

Lifting up the truck and air and mortars and dust and smoke grenades, I think that was [the challenge]. Then all of it with just being an anthology within an anthology, having the five stories really be scheduled to find enough time to dig deep with everybody. I think this season's been really beautiful in the way we can tell these deep, deep stories. Because we have these limited cast members in this one, it was kind of these deep stories with the five of them. It really turned out well. I'm really happy.

John Glover is as amazingly creepy as Teddy and has made such an impact in a relatively short amount of time. What was it like working with him on this episode?

From the day John came in -- J-Glo as we call him -- he kind of charmed the pants off all of us. He came in like the cult leader that his character is. He's infectious. He's a performance wild card. He's a great and beautiful human being. I think he's very charming in all regards. It was a pleasure working with him. He's a man that came in with the stamina of a 30-year-old, and he really brings it performance-wise. In such a short time, like you said, he came in and cemented his place in our family.

Going back and watching the final cut with all its bells and whistles. Is there a scene in the finale you're most proud of?

It's not proud for me, but to watch Omid [Abtahi] and Colman's [Domingo] performances -- and Colman in particular -- come into the tower and break down, to strip Strand to the ground to where he is no more, then to rise back up into this powerful transformation. I think that anyone who stares at a nuclear weapon as it ignites, it probably changes your DNA permanently if you think you feel lucky enough to have survived.

A lot of these storylines are cut. They're very compressed. We have to shoot them in a day and a half of running from location to location and trying to quickly back off and give the time and space for performances to occur. I just thought his performance was fantastic.

I think technically, I'm proud of many things. Brigitte's [Kali Canales] performance at the beginning -- Rachel -- was another feat of stamina. We shot all of her stuff in one day. And she had to stay a train wreck, crying, constantly dragging herself across the ground, walking with a limp. I thought her performance was so tight. It's very hard to have that kind of stamina and stay that emotionally engaged. I guess I have many [favorite parts].

The finale bounces around to our different heroes in various groups. If you were transplanted into the universe, which group would you want to join up with?

[laughs] I think out my own perseverance, I'd want to be on that helicopter and get away. I feel like it has a fighting chance. Anybody else, you just don't know. You don't know if there is a future. You don't know if they survive. You don't know anything as of now.

I think maybe the helicopter felt like it had a fighting chance. Maybe. But in every single story, we only see one detonation, and we know there are multiples. So, we don't know if they flew into anything. Right now, it's a lot of unknown. But I might feel more comfortable in that group [laughs]. I would feel very alone right now if I was alone.

To go back for a second, you directed "In Dreams," which was not only a beautiful episode but also unique, with a style that hasn't really been done before in this universe. Are these "world-bending" episodes something you'd like to see more of going forward?

For me, in general, "In Dreams" was a treat. It wasn't necessarily world-bending or rule-breaking, but being in somebody's subconscious while they think they're dying allowed us the freedom to really creatively push it and that was a lot of fun for me. It was very engaging, inspiring, and neat to feel that there were no rules in that moment other than the language that we tell the whole show with. The show has a language, a storytelling device, and we try to keep that.

Within the anthology, we allowed each episode to be semi-unique in colors and styles and things. This one just happened to be really able to push it. I loved it. I enjoyed it. Personally, as a creator, it was one of my favorite experiences recently just because it was still within the apocalypse and I felt like I left the planet storywise.

I love the stories we get to tell. I love them all from when there mine from the short time I get the script to completion. They're my children, and I love all my children equally. But some of them have a little more flair than the others.

This season has a lot of heart, but if we're talking about gore, do you have a favorite special effect you've done this season?

In "In Dreams," Nick Stahl as a talking walker was one of my highlights. First off, I'm such a huge fan of his work. It was really amazing to work with him. I think he's a fantastic actor, and having a talking walker was pretty cool. Again, being inside Grace's head gave us that opportunity and [Stahl] was such a fantastic slit throat. He got all evil walker. He trained his voice and everything.

I think, overall, this season that the team has overdone themselves, especially post-covid. We didn't get to have the numbers, but it was important to us to make sure that when we had them, it counted. And those guys and ladies put in immense effort to make every effect we had very special. But I'm going with Nick Stahl. I'm going with talking Riley slit throat walker.

Going back to the finale, is there any specific character you wish you got to spend a little more time on?

Zoe Colletti, I love. John Glover. Anyone we've lost. Cory Hart. Nick Stahl. Anytime we lose family members and characters that are strong, there's a human being behind them that I've gotten to create with. So, I'd go with anyone we lost in that episode. They drive the story. Their deaths are super important and we make them as fantastical as possible. I wish I could continue working with all of them. But ten years into the apocalypse, I could say that about 150 people.

Fear the Walking Dead stars Lennie James, Rubén Blades, Colman Domingo, Danay Garcia, Maggie Grace, Garret Dillahunt, Jenna Elfman, Alexa Nisenson, Karen David, Austin Amelio, Mo Collins, Zoe Colletti and Christine Evangelista. New episodes air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on AMC.