- Warning: There are spoilers ahead for season 10, episode 19 of "
The Walking Dead ." - Robert Patrick made a big entrance on "TWD" before getting killed off in one episode.
- Patrick tells Insider he thinks Father Gabriel made the wrong choice.
It doesn't look like Robert Patrick will be back any time soon on "The Walking Dead."
After making his debut on Sunday's episode, "One More," as a troubled and seemingly chaotic survivor of the apocalypse named Mays who held Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) and Aaron (Ross Marquand) at gunpoint, the "Terminator 2" actor was swiftly killed by Gabe just as it appeared that he may be turning over a new leaf.
Gabriel justified killing Mays to a horrified Aaron - who had just told Mays he should trust them - claiming they couldn't take him with them when he killed his brother's family.
Did Gabriel make the right decision?
Patrick told Insider that while Gabriel may believe he made the right call, he believes the father made a mistake in killing Mays.
"My contention is, no. I was a lost sheep," Patrick told Insider when asked if Gabriel made the right call.
"I let myself be vulnerable in front of the Father," he continued. "'Help me bring me back in.' Like, you would go to a priest - bring me back into the flock. I looked at him for that leadership, and I laid it out to him like that. I felt like I had conveyed enough of - I've been misguided. I've done some wrong things. You don't know yet about my brother that's up there, in the upper crawl space."
After killing Mays, the two were shocked to find his twin brother (also played by Patrick) alive in an attic. Mays hadn't killed him, but did keep him chained up next to the skeletons of his dead family. (Yikes.)
Though they offered to take him back home with them, he wound up taking his own life in front of them.
The assumption, earlier in the episode, was that Mays likely killed his brother as well. Mays never said he did any such thing. He did, however, force his brother to play a game of roulette with his family, likely for stealing his food. The game killed his brother's wife and child.
According to showrunner Angela Kang, in a behind-the-scenes feature on AMC+, Mays' nameless brother likely killed his own wife and child so he could live. As a result, Mays chained him up to live with his decision.
"I've done some things," Patrick told Insider, acknowledging Mays' past deeds. "But I want to come back, please forgive me and allow me to come back in. And [Gabriel] doesn't. He's a judge, jury, and executioner right there. He takes me out."
Patrick said he spoke with Seth Gilliam about the decision as well, saying Gilliam stands by Gabriel's decision.
"I said that to Seth the other day - I think [Gabriel] messed up. I really do," Patrick said. "I think he should have brought me back to the flock, let me bring my brother back in. Let me find redemption with him. I could be an asset, and he said, 'No, you're, you're just too crazy. You would have been a threat to the group.'"
Patrick left us with this thought at the end of our conversation on Friday, "I think that Gabriel proved that he was a murderer in this episode and this episode was to service his character, to be honest with you."
Gabriel's decision to kill Mays said a lot about his character and where he's at now. When we first met Gabriel on season five of "TWD," he couldn't be trusted. The man of faith locked his congregation out of his church in order to save his own skin.
He was never the man who would put his life on the line for anyone.
He's now proven himself time and time again as someone who will do whatever needs to be done to keep his community - his flock - safe. On the season 10 finale, Gabriel's character came full circle as he was prepared to die for his community until Maggie saved him.
However, as we see on Sunday's episode, Father Gabriel doesn't even want to preach anymore. So when he suddenly started talking Mays down, offering to help him, it wasn't odd for Mays to initially be distrustful of Gabriel before letting down his guard, only to find he wound up making the wrong call by putting his trust in the ruthless preacher.
It's something Kang notes on AMC+'s bonus content this week.
"Is Gabriel even telling the truth? The whole thing was a bluff. So we sort of don't know whether Gabriel even fully believes the things that he's saying anymore," Kang said. "Maybe Mays is right, because Gabriel lied and killed him."
That insight may be important moving forward on the show.
Sunday's episode ends with Aaron and Gabriel looking towards a water tower as one final location to search for supplies before heading back home. Its introduction is ominous.
Comic fans know Father Gabriel's iconic death comes at a tower, something that's already been teased and alluded to on the show various times.
Is Father Gabe's time coming to a close soon on "TWD"? We'll have to wait and see.
Mays believed everyone left in the world is a thief or a murderer. By the end of Sunday's episode, Gabriel has proved that he's both.