Fringe Season Three Casting Spoiler: Amy Madigan is Olivia's Mother

Fringe fans have gotten a summer treat even though the show is off the air until the fall. Word has leaked out through Entertainment Weekly that veteran actress Amy Madigan has been cast by the FOX network for the key role of Olivia Dunham's mother in Season 3 of Fringe.

Amy Madigan is an accomplished actress who is probably best known for playing Kevin Costner's wife in the hit film Field of Dreams. She has recently appeared as a therapist on Grey's Anatomy.

Season two of Fringe ended up with FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham imprisoned in the parallel universe that our beloved Fringe team had infiltrated to retrieve Peter Bishop. Unbeknownst to the returning team, they had brought back alt-Olivia, Agent Dunham's doppelganger while Olivia remained imprisoned on the wrong side.

In the alternate world Olivia's mother is alive whereas in our world she is dead. That sets up a very interesting scenario with Olivia getting a chance to meet her mother again. How this will happen is not clear because Olivia is imprisoned by the other universe's alter-Walter Bishop.

EW and FOX have dropped some tantalizing clues, however, suggesting that Madigan's character may have "shocking ties" to the Bishop family.

The season finale ended on somewhat of a hopeful note for the Fringe team, as Peter suggested he might forgive his father Walter for originally kidnapping him as a child from the alternate universe. They appeared to have at least some hope of reconciliation as Peter said he could not understand Walter's actions but he had "crossed universes two times to save his life" which should count for something.

This is before the discovery that they have brought the wrong Olivia back with them to our world, of course. Meanwhile our Olivia is imprisoned in a situation very much like the one she went through as a child, with her even adopting the same scared pose at season's end. It will be interesting to see where her mother fits into all of this.

Amy Madigan is scheduled to appear as Olivia Dunham's mother in the September premier episode of Fringe and then recur in at least four episodes of season three.

For more articles on Fringe and reviews of Season Two episodes see my blog On the Fringe.

Sources:

Entertainment Weekly, "Fringe Exclusive: Amy Madigan cast as Olivia's Mother"