'Fear the Walking Dead' Actor Reveals Why He Asked to Be Killed Off
Death is a fact of life for the stars of "Fear the Walking Dead." But in one actor's case, it was a death that was welcomed.
[Spoilers ahead for Sunday night's episode!!]
"FTWD" Fans were shocked when Frank Dillane's Nick was shot in the chest by a young girl working as a mole for the Vultures. Dillane was an original cast member who was with the show from day one.
Immediately, fans blamed new showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg. But they explained to The Hollywood Reporter that Dillane himself asked to be written out of the show before they even came on board.
"One of the first things we were tasked with when we came on to run season four was to find a story that would give Nick a fitting sendoff," Chambliss said, who added, "It was very important to us and to Frank to find a death for him that was emotional and one that would ripple forward throughout the storytelling."
Dillane told Entertainment Weekly that he felt the urge to pursue other opportunities.
"I had been doing it for three or four years, the show has undergone many changes in terms of different people in charge, all of this stuff, and I just felt like the beginning of this season kind of felt like the end of an era with this show," he said.
"And television is hard work, and you have to shoot a lot. I also missed Europe very much. I'm not American, so after a while I get quite homesick and all of those things. I also felt like we had achieved what needed to be achieved in the first few seasons, so I thought it was time to keep moving."
Dillane will continue to be part of Season 4, since "FTWD" is playing around with different timelines and Nick is still alive in the past. Still, seeing his character's death scene made the actor emotional.
"I had a little cry yesterday, funnily enough," he laughed. "It takes me a while before stuff sinks in. I'm certainly going to miss Nick."