Fear The Walking Dead star Lennie James said he hopes the zombie horror series earns at least another season to wrap up its story.
Season seven of the award-winning post-apocalyptic show is about to begin and finds the desperate survivors not only fighting off the undead but contending with the catastrophic fallout of a nuclear bomb.
British actor James, 56, stars as Morgan Jones in the spin-off series, after playing the role in The Walking Dead.
Fear The Walking Dead is yet to be renewed for an eighth season and James said the cast and creative team should have the chance to bring the story to an end.
He told the PA news agency: “I always think television shows, if they’re given a chance to complete the story, it can end whenever it ends. It’ll be nice if Fear is given the same opportunity that Walking Dead was given, which was enough time to decide how to tie up its story.
“That would be nice, but this experience for me has been fantastic. I’ll take what I’ve had and I’ll take what I’ve got and I’ll go running to the hills very happily with the job I feel I’ve done and what I’ve felt I’ve contributed to this show, the other show and the universe.”
James, who created and stars in the Bafta-winning drama series Save Me, will move into the director’s chair for two episodes of Fear The Walking Dead’s seventh season.
He described directing as a “huge undertaking” and praised his co-stars, who “take me seriously”.
He said: “I really enjoyed working with our crew in a different way. And I’ve really enjoyed working with our cast from the other side of the line.
“So I’ve had a ball doing it, but it’s really hard work, it really is. And that’s not a bad thing.
“I think it’s a good thing, it’s hard work, it should be hard work and when you pull it off or feel like you pulled it off it’s a brand new feeling of satisfaction.”
And James teased Fear The Walking Dead fans that major characters will be forced to do things viewers “might not have thought that they were willing to do”.
He said: “And to have that challenge at this stage of the proceedings, I think is a real testament to the storytelling of this show, but also this universe and this genre, really. So the short answer is Morgan’s journey through this one is a surprising kind of journey of self-discovery.”
Fear The Walking Dead premieres on Monday 18th October at 9pm on AMC exclusively to BT TV customers.