‘The Walking Dead’ Possibly Setting up Another Major Character Death

With The Walking Dead set to end in 2022 with season eleven, fans are starting to wonder who will survive until the end of the line. While multiple spinoffs are in the works (Carol and Daryl are safe, you guys), there is still that base level of uncertainty. While the series has deviated from the comic book source material many times, it still serves as at least a hint of what’s to come. And what could be coming is the death of Father Gabriel.

Gabriel, played by actor Seth Gilliam, joined The Walking Dead in season five and was immediately pegged as a cowardly opportunist. However, as the brutal series progressed, Gabriel proved that he would do anything for the group to keep people safe. That includes murdering a man in cold blood in Sunday’s episode, declaring, “Evil people aren’t the exception to the rule; they are the rule.” In the comics series, Gabriel is killed in the Whispers War. While he is still alive on the show, fans think that his days are numbered. In the comic, Gabriel is killed at a tower, and on the show, Gabriel and Aaron are approaching a water tower. Coincidence? Or ominous foreshadowing?

Gilliam spoke to Entertainment Weekly about Gabriel’s brutal killing, and he admitted that he’s surprised that Gabriel has stuck around this long. “I didn’t think he was long for this world at all. I thought way back in the day, three episodes and he’s gone,” explained Gilliam. “For some reason, I thought that it was kind of a bait-and-switch thing. I thought that he’s there and people would recognize him from the comics and assume one thing and he would actually wind up getting another major character killed coming to his rescue, and then be killed off in the next episode anyway. I thought it was going to be some of shock-shock thing.”

Gilliam also revealed how he found out about his character’s comics fate. “I knew because I was at a convention and a couple of kids came up to me and showed me the comic,” Gilliam said. “They were very excited to show it to me, about how graphic the death was. That was my first hint that the Whisperer war would not end well for Father Gabriel, but that really turned out not to be the case.” With only two episodes left in the season, is Father Gabriel the next to go?