Don't let this die! It's too important! I love you both.Krennick's last words to Sam and Ben before he is devoured.
Major General Krennick (first name unknown) is a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's Fear the Walking Dead. He is the original leader of PADRE, and the father of Sam and Ben.
Overview
Krennick is a brave and selfless man, as well as a loving father. He is a man of good intentions, wanting to help others and get in contact with other communities. He is a wise mentor for his children who are shown to care about him a lot. After his death, Sam and Ben are forced to take over, which caused PADRE to become a much more hostile community.
Pre-Apocalypse
Location Unknown
Nothing is known about Krennick's life before or as the outbreak began, except that he was a military general, and he had a wife, son, and daughter.
Post-Apocalypse
Season 8
"Odessa"
In a flashback to 12 years ago, Sam and Ben Krennick explore what will eventually become Padre's interrogation room on the island. The two are frightened by a man yelling at them over the loudspeaker which turns out to be a practical joke by their father, Major General Krennick of the U.S. Army. Ben calls the one-way mirror creepy which Krennick explains allows him to keep an eye on things while he's in meetings. Sam and Ben suggest that Krennick get the mic fixed because the voice that comes out of it will creep people out. Krennick tells them that Sergeant Brenner thinks that it's probably just a faulty wire and he'll get it taken care of. Sam and Ben are disappointed that their father has to leave, and he has them follow him to show them something.
Outside, Krennick shows his daughter through a pair of binoculars a middle-spotted woodpecker pecking at a tree. Krennick reminds his children that their mother had told him that she was giving him the binoculars so that he would always see what's coming. After seeing the bird through them that morning, Krennick had felt like she was trying to tell them something, "that we were going to be okay here. These birds, they live in families. They cooperate to raise their young. If they can do it, so can we." Goddard interrupts to ask Krennick if they should load up, and Krennick orders him to give them a minute.
Sam complains about her father leaving the island, but Krennick states that it's how they are going to rebuild, the same way that they built PADRE: shipping containers that each contain enough supplies for people to rebuild. Ben objects that it's dangerous out there, reminding his father that both Atlanta and LA were bombed. However, Krennick counters that they need to enact their distribution protocols and to seed new communities which is the way that the program was designed. Sam questions how her father even knows that there's still people out there, and Krennick reveals that Senator Elias Vazquez had made contact with them the day before from where he's living in a bunker beneath the Franklin Hotel in Galveston, Texas with his staff. Ben wants to do the same thing and stay on the island until they know that it's safer, but Krennick knows that they'll never survive here if it's just them cut off from the world with no trading partners and other communities to rely on. Krennick promises his children that they will be safe on the island and reminds them to use the bird code names that he gave them if they need to communicate with him by radio for their own safety. While Ben is fine with Crane, Sam questions her own code name of Shrike and her father tells her that a shrike may be small, but it is brutal when it has to be, and it doesn't hesitate to look after its family. The three say their goodbyes and Sam promises to keep her brother safe while their father is gone.
At the shipyard, Sam and Ben hide out, having stowed away onboard their father's boat. Krennick announces to his men that they have their work cut out for them, but that they're starting in a good place. The two emerge from hiding once the soldiers are gone and Sam protests that they shouldn't be here, but Ben just wants to make sure that their father is safe. Although Sam is sure that he will be, Ben notices that Krennick forgot his binoculars and he insists that they have to take them to him. Sam protests, but Ben is worried about how their father will see what's coming without them. Sam calls it just a superstition, insisting that Krennick has every other adult on the island with them and that he will be fine. Ben refuses to be deterred as they had thought the same thing about their mother, physically shoving Sam aside and locking her in before running off into a massive shipyard full of hundreds of giant shipping containers.
Ben runs through the maze of shipping containers looking for his father while Sam manages to free herself and runs after her brother. Sam finds an empty survivors' camp amongst the shipping containers and the words "DEAD HERE" spray-painted on a nearby container. Ben begins screaming for his sister and Sam finds him being chased through the maze by walkers which close in on Ben from multiple directions. As walkers close in on Ben, Krennick appears and shoots them, saving his son's life. A frightened Ben hands his father the binoculars and explains that he'd forgotten them. Krennick reveals that the shipyard has been overrun by a herd and that Goddard and the others are all dead. The herd closes in on them and Krennick runs out of bullets, forcing the family to run, but walkers surround them from all directions, trapping them. Krennick boosts his children up onto a shipping container, but he is devoured by the herd, including a zombified Goddard. With his last words, Krennick implores his children not to let PADRE die as it's too important and he loves them both. Ben sobs as he watches his father be devoured by the herd while Sam and Ben are safely out of reach thanks to their father's sacrifice.
That night, a zombified Krennick wanders as a part of the herd as his children watch.
In the present, a picture of Krennick and his kids sits on Ben's desk in what was supposed to be Krennick's office. Ben looks at the picture as Sam tells him that they are going to start PADRE's expansion using the supplies in the shipyard, just like Krennick had talked about.
"All I See Is Red"
12 years after his death, a zombified Krennick and the other walkers at the PADRE Shipyard are released by the PADRE Prefects and follow them into the swamps as part of the plan to begin PADRE's Expansion. Shrike later orders the Prefects to find her father amongst the horde as the coordinates that they need to begin the expansion are in his binoculars which Krennick is still carrying as a walker.
Taking the radio, Morgan tells Madison that Mo's going to be okay as he gave her the oxygen tank and she's swimming out to someplace safe. Madison asks about Morgan, but he tells her to just find Mo and make sure that she doesn't get on the ship. Shrike cuts in, telling Morgan that Mo is coming with them, PADRE is going to find the coordinates and Morgan will never see his daughter again. A zombified Krennick joins the walkers at the broken window and, realizing who the walker is, Morgan informs Shirke that the walker that she's looking for with the binoculars is right here in front of him. A shocked Shrike accuses Morgan of lying, but he threatens to bury the coordinates that she wants at the bottom of this swamp so that Shrike can never find them or her father. Morgan finally manages to reach his axe and cut himself free and he attacks the walkers, getting consumed by red again as a figure grabs Morgan through the window.
A frantic Shrike arrives, demanding to know where her father is. Morgan tells Shrike that he went down with the ship and Shrike tells Morgan that he can join Krennick then. Morgan goes into another red-tinted vision of his losses before noticing a zombified Krennick crawling out of the swamp. Shrike is consumed by memories of her own of her father. Morgan and Madison call for Shrike to shoot her father, but she drops the gun and breaks down, consumed by her pain over his loss, remorse for her actions and apologizing to her father, finally remembering what he really wanted PADRE to be and understanding that she had twisted her father's vision. Krennick approaches a kneeling Shrike and bites into her right shoulder near her neck and her arm before Madison shoves the general off of his daughter and puts him down with a blow from her sledgehammer as Morgan watches. Checking Krennick's binoculars, Madison finds the coordinates hidden in one of the lens caps. Shrike continues to apologize to her father and Madison notes that he was always with her, something that clearly affects Morgan.
Death
- Killed By
While boosting his children to safety, Krennick is devoured by a herd of walkers, including Goddard and Kingston. He later reanimates.
- Madison Clark (Zombified)
While a zombified Krennick is attacking his daughter, Madison shoves Krennick off of her and bashes his head in with a sledgehammer.
Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Krennick has killed:
- Sam Krennick (Infected, Caused)
- Possibly numerous counts of enemy combatants (Pre-Apocalypse)
- Numerous counts of zombies
Relationships
Allies |
Appearances
Fear the Walking Dead
Season 8
- "Odessa" (Flashback)
- "All I See Is Red" (Zombified/Flashback)
Trivia
- Despite being zombified for over twelve years, Krennick showed no signs of deterioration, presenting himself as a recently-turned zombie. This is likely a poor production oversight.
- All three members of the Krennick family were killed by walkers.