A Big Hell Yeah To The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live For That Genuinely Surprising Character Return

Major spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live on AMC or with an AMC+ subscription.

Rick and Michonne went through the wringer in the fourth episode of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, but celebrated a big win as they seemingly staged a successful escape from the CRM. The fifth installment, “Become,” proved that all victories are short-lived in this world, as Jadis was successfully able to track the couple’s through their wake of walker guts. That cat-and-mouse game made for a pretty fun ep, despite the generic zombie bait introduced, but I think we can all agree the biggest highlight was the return of Seth Gilliam’s Father Gabriel! There was a deadly lowlight too, but more on that below.

With all the Walking Dead characters who were publicly revealed to be taking part in one of the various spinoffs — such as Melissa McBride’s confirmed return for TWD: Daryl Dixon Season 2 — it remains unclear what became of plenty of other characters who survived the emotional series finale. And I don’t know if what this episode showed audiences specifically counts as an update, considering much of what we saw was via flashbacks, but it was still a much-welcomed return for any long-time fans of this franchise.

What We Learned From Father Gabriel's Return

In a surprising move for a character who seemingly didn't have much of an emotional core these days, if ever, Jadis apparently went out  of her way to reconnect with Gabriel years after she disappeared with Rick in Season 8. He revealed to her that everyone in Alexandria appeared to believe that Rick was dead, and she didn’t exactly step up to immediately correct him. She also didn’t step up to offer him any help, perhaps understandably saying the CRM wouldn’t allow such things.

She continued to visit him at the same spot for the next two years, and continued to deal with Gabriel’s pleas for her to join him in Alexandria, which she continued to refuse, even though she appeared to genuinely want to return to that life, if the possibility existed. But it didn’t present itself before then, and it certainly can’t do it now.

More Father Gabriel, Please

The Walking Dead's Seth Gilliam Reveals Father Gabriel’s Big Regret

Perhaps most importantly for this spinoff's main couple, Gabriel gave Jadis a ring he'd found and intended to give to Rick to propose to Michonne on the very bridge that was blown up as a safety precaution. By the end of the episode, that ring made its way into Rick's possession.

Did Father Gabriel Die?

Seth Gilliam talked with CinemaBlend in the past about Walking Dead fans always being ready for Gabriel’s death, given how many times the character appeared to be destined to fly through death’s door. Lo and behold, even though “Become” attempted to fool audiences into thinking the holy man would be killed off by Jadis herself, it didn’t happen.

It’s possible that Jadis should have offed him, as far as her own CRM goal is concerned, but I’m very thankful that it didn’t happen. Because Father Gabriel’s return sets the stage for even more familiar characters to pop up again in the finale, “The Last Time.” That’s the rose-colored glasses version of events, anyway.

So Who Died?

With no viable way for Rick and Michonne to make it back to Alexandria in a world where Jadis would return to the CRM, this final encounter necessarily had to take someone out of the picture, and Pollyanna McIntosh’s semi-villain was the one bitten and bullet-ridden by the episode’s end.

Before she died, Jadis thankfully revealed the possible key to Rick and Michonne making a clean getaway by sharing the location of the dossier she kept on them. Not that they’re going to use it so wisely, with Michonne dead-set on taking down the entire CRM. So, you know, good luck to her with that. The preview for the finale made it look like a potentially doable mission, but that's pretty effing lofty for one episode.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is set to air its season finale on AMC on Sunday, March 31, at 9:00 p.m. ET. Check out all the other upcoming 2024 horror TV shows to look forward to when Rick and Michonne are gone once again.