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This article is about the Fear character. For other pages with the same name, see: Bethany

The time varies from person to person, but we know that muscle impulse resumes after death... any death. They all come back. We all come back. This is a captive bolt pistol. It's used for livestock. Traumatic brain injury is the only thing that stops it. It's the only way to stop them. She'll turn, Liza. And we don't want her to turn.
―Dr. Exner to Liza Ortiz.[src]

Dr. Bethany Exner is a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's Fear the Walking Dead. She is a doctor working for the U.S. Government.

Overview[]

Bethany is a pragmatic, cold, and callous woman. As a doctor, she attempts to help as many people as she can at the start of the outbreak. She befriends Elizabeth Ortiz, despite knowing she isn't a doctor. Bethany is shown to be willing to do what needs to be done, putting down deceased patients after their death. However, after witnessing all the death and horror of the apocalypse, Bethany becomes depressed and hopeless. She puts down immobile patients to spare them from being devoured by walkers. Despite the pleas of Elizabeth, Bethany doesn't go with the group and kills herself.

Pre-Apocalypse[]

Los Angeles, California[]

Nothing is known about Bethany's life prior to or as the outbreak began, except that she is a doctor working for the United States Government.

Post-Apocalypse[]

Season 1[]

"Not Fade Away"[]

When Elizabeth Ortiz visits the Ramirez home to check on Hector Ramirez, she finds the bed empty. Moments later, Dr. Exner enters the house with Cynthia Ramirez, who is grateful for Dr. Exner transferring Hector to a medical facility for proper care. Dr. Exner introduces herself to Liza and begins to question Liza's medical history, fully aware that she is not an actual nurse, but pleased that she has been helping neighbors in the safe zone. Dr. Exner enlists Liza to assist her in caring for other patients in the safe zone, and examines Nicholas Clark, who is supposedly recovering from a drug addiction.

Later that night, Dr. Exner and several members of the California Army National Guard remove Griselda Salazar from the Clark home to be transferred to the medical facility. Much to Liza's surprise, Nicholas is also removed from the home and she pleads Dr. Exner to allow Nick to stay behind. However, Dr. Exner persuades Liza to join her to the medical facility, as she knows Liza will be a useful asset. Ultimately, Liza decides to leave with Dr. Exner, along with Griselda and Nick.

"Cobalt"[]

Bethany is seen at a medical ward in the command post tending the wounded along with Liza, Nurse Hodges, and several other medics. She tells Liza that she is grateful for her services as they had been short on medical staff after her best nurses were taken away for a mission. After a new soldier comes in, Bethany examines his wounds and sees bite marks on him. She immediately authorizes euthanizing him, and warns Liza that anything that looks like a bite wound is and they need to be careful or they will all end up "tasting the neighbors".

After Liza stumbles upon the holding pens in an attempt to find Griselda, Bethany finds her in another ward. She tells her that Griselda is in septic shock from the amputation. After Griselda starts muttering about the war in Spanish, she dies from the lack of blood to her brain. Bethany takes out a captive bolt pistol and explains to Liza that after any death, the host will turn into an infected, and the only way to stop them from turning is blunt trauma on the head. She is about to shoot the deceased Griselda to prevent her from turning, but Liza does it instead.

"The Good Man"[]

Dr. Exner continues to care for the twenty patients remaining in the medical ward, along with a dozen of her nurses and medical staff. She radios Edwards Air Base to arrange for evacuation of her patients and staff. She is pleased to inform her fellow survivors that the military has agreed to send an evacuation helicopter. However, once she sees zombies overrunning the facility, she radios the air base to check on the status of her helicopter. The military states that they are assessing the situation, but she sees the helicopter fly away, realizing that they have been abandoned. She tells her nurses and able-bodied patients to flee for the trucks outside before they leave. She remains behind with the patients who are unable to move. When Liza and her group arrive at the ward, they find out that Dr. Exner had mercifully executed the remaining patients, to avoid them from being eaten alive by the zombies. Liza attempts to persuade Dr. Exner to flee with them, but she refuses. Instead, she remains motionless as she stares at the bolt gun in her lap. Although not seen, she shot herself with the bolt gun to avoid being eaten by zombies as the facility was overrun.

Season 8[]

"The Road Ahead"[]

Bethany briefly appears in one of Madison's flashbacks as she thinks about Nick.

Death[]

Killed By
  • Zombies (Caused)
  • Herself (Suicide, Off-Screen)

After the military facility is overrun by the herd, Bethany loses all hope and decides to mercifully execute the remaining patients to avoid them from being eaten alive, before shooting herself with a bolt gun.

Killed Victims[]

This list shows the victims Bethany has killed:

  • Hector Ramirez (Out of Mercy)
  • Shih (Before Reanimation)
  • Kuchen (Out of Mercy)
  • Herself (Suicide)
  • Numerous counts of unnamed people (Out of Mercy and Before Reanimation)
  • Possibly a few zombies

Relationships[]

Allies[]

Appearances[]

Episodes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6
Season 7
Season 8
Appears Voice is heard
👁 Appears with no lines Appears in a flashback
Appears as a walker 🖼 Appears in a photograph/video
Appears as a corpse Appears in a hallucination/dream

Trivia[]

  • The casting call for this character used the name Dr. Manson.
    • Bethany was described as "40s. She is a confident and persuasive skilled doctor."
  • In an interview, showrunner Dave Erickson commented the following regarding Dr. Exner's fate: "In my mind, she was planning to use that cattle pistol on herself. Her mission has failed and she had a look into what our characters don't understand yet: this is the end. She is left in a place where I don't think she sees any way to bounce back from it. We have no plans for Exner right now."[1]

International Dubbers[]

Language Dubber Other Characters Voiced
Czech Radka Přibyslavská N/A
French Anneliese Fromont N/A
German Maria Sumner N/A
Hungarian N/A N/A
Italian Emanuela D'Amico Alex
Japanese N/A N/A
Portuguese N/A N/A
Spanish (Latin America) N/A N/A
Spanish (Spain) Nuria Mediavilla N/A

References[]

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