Episode 12 of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead was a harrowing one with a devastating ending. While many people have been focusing on the tragic death, there was also the question of why Riley (Nick Stahl) is so intent on obtaining Morgan’s (Lennie James) key.
Morgan first obtained this key from a man that he was forced to kill in Episode 4 of Fear the Walking Dead Season 6. Wearing it around his neck, Morgan has been very possessive of it since.
With the introduction of Riley’s group, who reside underground in a place called the Holding, it was quickly established that they wanted to obtain the key from him.
Now, this has been achieved in the latest episode. But, why do they want it?
For the answer to that question, we have to go all the way back to the Season 6 premiere of Fear the Walking Dead.
The submarine could be the answer
In the very first episode of Season 6, a massive red submarine that was beached was shown. Nothing else has been shared about this vessel other than to show a man spray-painting the words “The End is the Beginning” across its side.
According to Comic Book, Morgan’s key is linked to this submarine. The reasoning behind this is because, in the same episode, a man named Emile (Demetrius Grosse) had been hired to track down another man called Walter (Damon Carney), the apparent owner of the submarine and the person who was first sighted wearing the key.
Of course, this slogan is also synonymous with Riley’s group, which is headed by Teddy (John Glover). This makes it very likely that at least some of these people are involved with this community.
So, the assumption to be made here is that the submarine is somehow linked to this group.
Clues have already been dropped regarding what the Holding wants to do
In Episode 11 of Fear the Walking Dead Season 6, the Holding community was explored quite extensively when Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and a small group infiltrated the group in order to find out more.
What they discovered was that this community was headed by a man that Alicia referred to as the “King of the Crazies” after their apparent doctrine was revealed.
During the episode, it was learned that members of the Holding were tracking down as many of the above-ground communities as they could with the aim of destroying them.
In addition to this, Riley noted that, eventually, they planned to lock themselves away from the rest of the world and remain hidden below ground.
While it hasn’t been stated outright yet, many people believe that the submarine actually contains nuclear capacities, and this is why the Holding community wants it so desperately.
Judging by what they have said so far and, with their doomsday preppers vibe, it looks very likely that they want access to the submarine to destroy everything on the surface while they live on underground.
Fear the Walking Dead’s showrunner reveals more
When asked about why the key was so important to Riley and his group, one of Fear’s showrunners gave the following answer to Entertainment Weekly.
“That’s a tough question to answer without giving everything up, but it means that our group needs to really kick things into gear,” Andrew Chambliss said.
“We are going to learn fairly soon what exactly it is Teddy’s going to do and how he’s going to pull it off.”
In addition to this, he noted that Morgan “knows there’s kind of a reckoning coming” after handing the key over. However, he will also have to deal with the emotional fallout from what happened to Grace (Karen David) and her baby, Athena (Sahana Srinivasan).
But, until further episodes of Fear the Walking Dead airs, fans will just have to wait it out for more information.
Fear the Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9/8c on AMC.