‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Star Alycia Debnam-Carey Reacts to Her Directorial Debut on AMC Series (Exclusive)

Fear the Walking Dead aired the 11th episode of Season 7 on Sunday night, and it was a very special episode for Alycia Debnam-Carey. The 28-year-old Fear the Walking Dead star directed the episode and had a strong reaction after watching her directorial debut. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, Debnam-Carey opened up about her reaction to watching an episode she directed. 

“Well, when I watched the episode, I mean, you’re watching so many different parts, right?” Debnam-Carey exclusively told PopCulture. “Because at first you are cutting it together, and I think it’s been cut together as you are filming, and so, the first initial time you see it, it’s sort of … For me, it’s an overwhelming shock in a way because suddenly you’re like, ‘Okay, these are all the pieces but wait, this is not where I want them, or did I get everything, wait, where’s that piece that I had, but I wanted in here?’”

Debnam-Carey continued: “And then I took months later before I actually watched it again for the first time. And I don’t know, it’s like … I think there’s always things that you are like, ‘I wish I had that, or maybe I wanted to change or like that’s … Oh, if only I knew that what I did now,’ but at the same time, there was a real kind of, I don’t know, an overwhelming sense of achievement and … I don’t know, it was rewarding and I felt very … I don’t know, I felt like, ‘F— yeah, you did it.’”

The episode, which is titled “Ofelia,” focused on the relationship between Luciana (Danay García) and Daniel (Rubén Blades). The two along with Wes (Colby Hollman), are captured by the Stalkers after Daniel wanders off to find his daughter Ofelia (Mercedes Madson) who died in Season 3. Carey doesn’t appear in the episode but enjoyed working closely with the three co-stars from a different perspective. 

“I adored working with them. I appreciated their generosity and trust so much,” Debnam-Carey said. “They trusted me inherently. They allowed me to really step into that role and gave me that title. They trusted my judgment, they listened to my decisions, my thoughts, my opinions, and they really took it on board. I think they were really … I really enjoyed working with them.

“And for me, I really, as much as there’s a lot going in this episode in terms of a new set piece, this huge scale of a new world-building, there’s a lot of special effects stuff, there’s some pretty gruesome kills. Above all for me, this was performance-based episode. To me, it was an homage to these two characters, especially Rubén and Danay or Luciana, and Daniel having seen the growth from what we’ve seen of them in the earliest seasons to then getting this opportunity to really get into it in Season 7 and see their relationship having evolved so much, being able to really get into that was such a rewarding thing.” Fear the Walking airs Sundays at 9 pm. ET on AMC.