Father Gabriel, well-known to fans of The Walking Dead comic books, has been pictured for the first time on the set of the television series.
Season 5 is currently being filmed, and will explore the events after the end of the season 4 finale, which ended with many of the core group trapped at Terminus.
As in every season, at least several new characters are expected to be introduced in season 5. One has been said to be a one-legged man that will team up with Rick and Rick’s group to escape Terminus.
Another new character, unspecified officially, was announced to be cast as Seth Gilliam.
It now appears that Gilliam will be playing Father Gabriel, as he was spotted on set in a minister’s outfit.
The description of Gilliam’s character as reported by Deadline seems to fit in with Gabriel, even though a possibly fake name Michael Todd was given. “Michael is described as having two sides, displaying a friendly, puckish humor but also having a haunted side stemming from a dark secret,” it reported.
It’s also possible that Gilliam’s character is named Michael Todd, but that the inspiration for Todd is drawn from the comic book Gabriel, as with many of The Walking Dead characters.
In the comic books, Gabriel is haunted by guilt after holing up in his church after everything initially went down. Parishioners tried to get in but he locked the church and wouldn’t help anyone, terrified that if he did then there wouldn’t be enough to go around. After meeting Rick and Rick’s group, Gabriel professes a desire to make up for what he'd done.
