'The Walking Dead' season 11 premiere teases a possible hint about a long-missing character on the show
- Warning: There are spoilers ahead for "The Walking Dead" season 11 premiere.
- A massive wall of names at the episode's end includes the name "Heath."
- Heath went missing on "TWD" on season seven. He's presumably with the Civic Republic Military.
"The Walking Dead's" final season premiere just brought up a name from the past we weren't expecting to see again.
Near the end of the premiere, Yumiko, Ezekiel, Princess, and Eugene come across a giant wall full of photos of missing persons from over the years during the zombie apocalypse.
While the main focus is on Yumiko discovering her sister may be alive, eagle-eyed fans may have noticed a familiar name that the show hasn't mentioned in years.
Heath.
Heath's name isn't just shown once.
It can be seen at least twice among hundreds of names.
It's not blurry either, making us wonder if there's a chance we could see Corey Hawkins' character make a return on the show's final season.
If you missed the small detail or are blanking on Hawkins' character, we'll catch you up to speed.
Who's Heath? A character who went missing on season seven.
One of the original members of Alexandria, Heath was introduced on season six and became more of a background character than an important addition to the group, as he is in the comics.
He was one of the few who wasn't afraid to question Rick's leadership and trustworthiness after overhearing that Rick thought some of the Alexandrians were expendable.
When Hawkins landed roles in "Straight Outta Compton" and the lead on Fox's "24: Legacy" series, he was quietly written out of "TWD" and his story line was left open-ended.
The last time fans saw Heath alive and was on season seven, episode six of the AMC zombie drama, bailing on Tara when she was surrounded by the undead.
Heath's absence was oddly never addressed by any living character, not even Tara after she made it back home.
Frustratingly, Tara never told anyone that Heath went missing and no one ever asked about him. Not even Aaron (Ross Marquand) was curious about the whereabouts of his fellow Alexandrian. It was absolutely bizarre.
That's why it was great to see the name pop up on the season 11 premiere.
Princess, Yumiko, Ezekiel wouldn't have recognized Heath's name. It's tough to say whether or not Eugene would have recalled him if he noticed the scrap of paper, but Eugene does seem to have a pretty stellar memory. (The guy recalled every zip code he ever lived at without blinking to the Commonwealth auditors.)
It would have been so, so satisfying for Aaron to have been at the Commonwealth and to have seen that little scrap of paper with Heath's name on it to tie up a loose end on the show. Who's to say that still doesn't happen?
We know Heath is still likely out there. Showrunner Angela Kang told us Heath was taken by the CRM years ago.
In 2018, Insider asked Kang whether or not Heath was also taken by the helicopter which whisked Rick away and if Anne traded him to the CRM for supplies.
"That was kind of the intention that we had in the back of our heads this whole time," Kang told Insider of whether or not Anne traded Heath to the helicopter people. "Even back in that season where, you know, we had to write the wonderful Corey Hawkins out because he had huge opportunities in the feature film world... those seeds were already set there."
For all we know, Heath and Rick have been hanging out together for years.
If so, we're sure that was quite the bonding session since Heath didn't seem too fond of Rick the last time we saw him.
Are we about to see Heath? Tough to say, but Gimple and Kang told us they'd love to see Hawkins back.
The mention of Heath could just be a fun Easter egg, but we're really hoping there's more to it.
Various crew members from Kang to executive producer Greg Nicotero have told Insider over the years that they'd love to have Hawkins back on the show.
When we asked Kang earlier this month if we could see some familiar faces like Heath and Georgie show up on the series' final season, she said, "In any season that we're doing, we do ask ourselves questions like, 'Is it useful to bring somebody back or not?' 'Does that contribute to the story?" Without getting into any specifics, it's something that we consider, but we rarely do. So, that's not to say yes or no. It's more about our process of thinking about it. If it's relevant for the story, then we'll think about doing it."
Recently, "TWD" universe chief Scott M. Gimple told Insider in November 2020, "God knows I'm determined to work with Corey again."
In 2017, Hawkins told Collider "there is always a possibility" we could see him return.
At 2018's New York Comic Con, "TWD" creator Robert Kirkman said the following in response to a fan question about Heath, "We are hoping to get [Hawkins] back and tell his story. There are definitely plans in place there. It's just a matter of making sure that everything can line up because it is somewhat complicated."
If Heath returned, it would be a great way to set up the first "TWD" movie to find Rick, especially if Heath has been with the same group that also took Rick.
Here's to hoping we get to see Heath by the finale.