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The King Francis Theater is a location that appears in AMC's The Walking Dead: Dead City. It served as an outpost for the Burazi. The place was also the home of their mysterious ally, the Dama.
Pre-Apocalypse
New York
Before the apocalypse, it served as a theater. During one of the shows of The Little Empress, a thinly veiled mockery of the theater critic who would later become known as the Dama, there was an altercation between the writer and the critic, the latter of whom ended up biting the writer.
Post-Apocalypse
Season 1
"Stories We Tell Ourselves"
The Croat comes here to meet with the Dama to talk about the fact that Negan escaped, the extermination of the Manhattan Tribespeople, the destruction of Madison Square Garden, and that they have been found by the New Babylon Federation.
"Doma Smo"
At the King Francis Theater, where a number of people are laying passed out around the auditorium, the Croat tells Negan that his battles with the Manhattan Tribespeople were just practice for the war to come. Once the Burazi have full control of the island, the Dama says that a clash of civilizations is inevitable. After the Croat had told the Dama about all of the good that Negan had done and the people that Negan had saved and protected, the Dama had said that Negan is the missing piece. The Croat is excited to introduce Negan and the Dama, comparing it to Mommy and Daddy coming together. However, rather than allowing the Croat to stick around, the Dama dismisses him in order to talk to Negan alone, much to his disappointment.
The Dama offers Negan a drink, telling Negan that she's pleased to finally meet him and to discover that Negan is actually real and not the product of the Croat's insanity. Having heard of Negan's performance at the tribal hideout, the Dama is impressed by Negan's taunting, joking and the extra but absolutely necessary pinch of gruesomeness that created a lot of shock and awe. Negan refuses the drink, and the Dama pulls Perlie's badge out of her purse. The Dama explains that she's worried about the forces behind the marshals coming after the island's natural resources like a pack of hyenas. "The island needs leadership. Now more than ever. Someone with confidence, fearlessness, charisma, that special, shall we say, political talent. For what is politics if not performance?" Realizing that the Dama means him, Negan questions why he would help her. The Dama reveals that there are other settlements as far north as Harlem and, if they can unite all of the settlements under one rule, they will be indomitable, and it can all be Negan's again.
The Dama offers him the keys to the kingdom, but wonders how she can be sure, pointing out that Negan might not be the man that he used to be and maybe he never was which Negan acknowledges. The Dama presents Negan with a small box containing a severed pinky toe. At the Bricks, Hershel, who is missing his right pinky toe, plays his guitar as the Dama explains to Negan that she had a lot of talks with Hershel who told the Dama the story of the man who had murdered his father, not just in front of his mother, but an unborn Hershel as well. The Dama could sense in the rest of Hershel's story what Hershel himself couldn't, that his father's killer might feel remorseful and responsible for the boy whose family he destroyed. Maggie goes through Hershel's drawings which include images of Manhattan, the vault that he was imprisoned in and the Dama. Hershel had only told the Dama this story once he felt safe with her, and here Negan is, having come all of this way to save him. The Dama eventually let Hershel go in exchange for Negan, but she kept a little piece of him "and I can always go back for more. Make it last. We have a lot to discuss. A lot to plan for." Negan finally takes the drink that the Dama had offered him, and Maggie and Negan get the same look on their face at the realization of the threat that the Dama poses to Hershel and the lengths that she's willing to go to.
Season 2
"Power Equals Power"
King Francis Theater will appear in this episode.
"Another Shitty Lesson"
King Francis Theater will appear in this episode.
"Why Did the Mainlanders Cross the River?"
The Croat tells Negan that after crashing his boat on the Manhattan shoreline during a storm, he met the Dama after the Croat collapsed while searching through the theater.
In flashbacks, Hershel is imprisoned in the theater where the Dama provides him with several amenities, including a cot, a desk and drawing tools. The Dama visits Hershel during his imprisonment, bonding with the boy. When she leaves the door open after one visit, Hershel escapes, but he is attacked by three walkers roaming the hallways. Hershel and the Dama dispatch the walkers together and she takes Hershel to a lavish moveable room that the Dama has had prepared for him, enticing the boy to join her cause.
"The Bird Always Knows"
King Francis Theater will appear in this episode.
"Bridge Partners Are Hard to Come by These Days"
King Francis Theater will appear in this episode.
"Novi Dan, Novi Početak"
Maggie searches King Francis Theater for her missing son, following the sounds of opera to the Dama's room. Inside, the Dama's burned corpse still lies under the fallen clothing rack and the Croat greets her after Maggie shuts off the music. Maggie demands to know where Hershel is from the Croat who is depressed after being kicked out of the Burazi. The Croat claims not to know where else Hershel might've gone looking for the Dama, but Maggie accuses him of lying and threatens to cut off tiny pieces of the man one by one, starting with his toe. The Croat concedes that he may be able to help her.
The Croat takes Maggie to the room that the Dama had set up for Hershel, explaining that while the elevator still works, it now functions more as lookout rather than transporting freight. The Croat figured that Hershel might return to it because the Dama had asked him to restore it for Hershel and provide the boy with his own personal space. "Novi dan, novi početak. New day, new beginning." Maggie demands to know if that was before or after the Croat cut off Hershel's toe which he admits that he did for the Dama. However, the Croat wasn't the only one who just did what the Dama asked him to. "When she explained the reasons for needing the toe, your son... he gave it to her. Willingly. He let me cut it off," reveals the Croat, stunning Maggie who refuses to rest. The Croat notices one of Hershel's drawings of the Fallen Skybridge and is hit by an idea, telling Maggie that there's a safe house that only he and the Dama knew about, but the Croat showed it to Hershel once. The Dama told Hershel to go there if shit ever hit the fan. However, getting to it won't be easy.
It's later revealed that the Dama had somehow survived the fire, hiding out at the New York Times. However, she is missing part of her hair and has a burn on the side of her neck, showing that the Dama didn't survive unharmed.
Inhabitants
- Many unnamed people
Formerly
Deaths
Appearances
Dead City
Season 1
Season 2
- "Power Equals Power"
- "Another Shitty Lesson"
- "Why Did the Mainlanders Cross the River?" (Flashback)
- "The Bird Always Knows"
- "Bridge Partners Are Hard to Come by These Days"
- "Novi Dan, Novi Početak"