Fear TWD PADRE Confirmation Shuts Down Biggest Season 7 Theory
The meaning behind PADRE is Fear The Walking Dead's biggest season 7 mystery, but despite new details, a major fan theory has now been shut down.
Fear The Walking Dead disproves the biggest season 7 fan theory regarding PADRE, but does at least offer new information as recompense. Fear The Walking Dead season 7 has largely focused on the nuclear rivalry between Victor Strand and Morgan Jones, with neither man able to stand the other, and neither covering themselves in glory - especially after Morgan's botched assassination attempt. Rumbling away in the background, however, is the PADRE mystery. As described by Will in Fear The Walking Dead's season 7 premiere, PADRE is a rumored haven safe from the nuclear fallout. No one seems to know if it exists for sure, but everyone from Fred and Bea to Mickey the wrestler has at least heard of it.
Coming closest to solving the mystery is Fear The Walking Dead season 7, episode 8, appropriately titled "Padre." Picking up shortly after Teddy locked her in a bunker, the episode covers Alicia's initial meeting with Will and the very first occasion she heard the term "PADRE," building toward her desperate search for the mysterious promised land in Fear The Walking Dead's present day. Though there's still no confirmation as to what PADRE might be, Alicia's flashback adds new clues to the case... and disproves one major theory.
After the word was first mentioned in season 7's premiere, many fans suspected PADRE might refer to Padre Island. Located relatively close to Galveston (where Teddy launched the nuclear missile), Padre Island lies within easy reach of Fear The Walking Dead's protagonists and, due to its watery surrounds, would feasibly be safe from both the undead and nuclear fallout. Alicia draws the same conclusion, and immediately asks Will whether PADRE is Padre Island. He shuts down the idea, replying, "No, that'd be too obvious. The location was classified."
Will makes a valid point. There's an extreme level of secrecy surrounding PADRE, where radio chatter refuses to confirm the haven exists, let alone provide directions on how to get there. If Padre Island really was the location, picking "PADRE" as a code name would be a colossal lapse in security protocol. While Fear The Walking Dead season 7 stomps all over fans' Padre Island theory, episode 8 does provide a few useful snippets of fresh information. Alicia describes PADRE as a place "with plans to rebuild, resources to do it" which supports the other big theory that PADRE is a CRM outpost. Will elaborates, revealing the PADRE motto as "rebuilding our country's future."
Will also confirms PADRE's location was known to his employer, Senator Vasquez, and that the politician's family were already heading there. This indicates PADRE is connected to the U.S. government - their contingency plan for a world-ending event, or something similar. More ominously, Alicia's new boyfriend also warns how Senator Vasquez could never raise PADRE on the radio, unable to confirm whether his family - or, indeed, anyone - made it. Could PADRE be another sinister red herring along the lines of Terminus from the main show?
Finally, Fear The Walking Dead season 7 confirms "PADRE" is actually an acronym - P.A.D.R.E. The letters could denote an official-sounding phrase like "Pandemic Action Directive for Rebuilding and Evacuation" or something less formal such as "Please Ask Dave the Right Entryway" or "Pointless Acronym Deliberately Rather Enigmatic" Either way, Fear The Walking Dead viewers can at least turn their thoughts away from Padre Island for future theories.