'The Walking Dead' showrunner confirms the new mystery person on the show isn't the comic character fans think
- Warning: There are spoilers ahead for "TWD" season 10 finale.
- A new, masked character appeared on the finale alongside Maggie (Lauren Cohan).
- Showrunner Angela Kang confirmed to Insider the masked person is not Mercer, a character from the comics.
- Kang said we'll learn more about where Maggie has been and this character in the bonus six episodes of season 10 and season 11.
- We're hoping it's Eduardo (Peter Luis Zimmerman) or Morgan (Lennie James) back from "Fear TWD."
"The Walking Dead" season 10 finale introduced a new, masked person into the mix.
As Maggie (Lauren Cohan) finally returned to "TWD," she was accompanied by a mystery bodyguard who's lethal with blades and saved Father Gabriel's life.
Who is this mysterious person? Fans have guessed this may be Mercer, a character from the comics, since a teaser for the finale was released in April. Showrunner Angela Kang tells Insider that's not the case.
"It is not Mercer," said Kang, hinting we'll learn more about the character soon.
"I'll say that we will learn more about this character and kind of who they are and what Maggie has been through more recently," Kang continued. "That's going to be a big part of the story in the six episodes to come, but also in the season [11] as a whole to come."
Cohan quietly departed the show in 2018 on season nine, episode five, Rick Grimes' (Andrew Lincoln) final episode. Her unannounced, surprise departure outraged fans who weren't aware it was also Cohan's final episode of the show until after its conclusion. AMC heavily marketed the episode as Grimes' final episode.
Last October, Cohan surprised fans at New York Comic Con at "TWD" panel where it was confirmed she'll be back on season 11 as a series regular. In September, AMC announced "TWD" will end after its 11th season.
What are these six episodes Maggie will be a part of? Over the summer, AMC announced "TWD" season 10 will receive six bonus additional episodes. "TWD" writer Kevin Deiboldt described them as "in-between-quels" to Insider. We expect these to be more contained storylines that show where other characters (i.e. Maggie) have been while also serving as a bridge between seasons 10 and 11.
"In order to film safely, we've had to think really deeply about what we can accomplish, at this point in a way that is hopefully still really creatively satisfying, but that, you know, doesn't have 300 zombie extras in a scene breathing on all of our actors," Kang said of the bonus episodes to come in early 2021.
"It's been a really interesting and fun creative challenge for us on the writing side to try to do some deep dives into some of our characters," Kang added.
You can read everything we know about who will be a part of the six bonus episodes here.
If the mystery person isn't Mercer, who is this masked person? It may be someone we already know.
There are a few likely candidates who could be under the mask.
An obvious guess is that this is Eduardo (Peter Luis Zimmerman), a person who was extremely loyal to Maggie while she was the leader of the Hilltop. Fans have been asking where Eduardo has been since Maggie left "TWD."
Why it could be Eduardo
Kang previously confirmed to Insider that Eduardo was alive and well, though she said he was "probably" at the Hilltop.
It would be fun to see him back in the mix just to close that loophole going into the show's final season. If the show was following the comics, we originally would have guessed this was Dante. In the comics, he became Maggie's future love interest years after Glenn's death.
This isn't going to happen on the show since Kang remixed Dante's character to make him into a Whisperer villain on season 10 in a delightful twist that fans didn't see coming.
Maggie certainly doesn't need another love interest this late on the show, but there's definitely room for another character to fill the void of Dante's comic character arc. If it's Eduardo or Kal under the mask, maybe there's a story there about a possible disfigurement that led to the protective face covering.
Why it could be Morgan Jones (Lennie James)
Perhaps one of the original "TWD" characters is coming back to the main show.
We can't say much on this front, but since I've seen the first few episodes of "Fear TWD" season six, Morgan is definitely beginning to go down a bit of a different path. We can see him as this secret warrior.
Morgan is currently on "Fear," so a mask would be the perfect way to preserve any sort of spoiler.
Maybe the masked person isn't even a man. It could be one of the twins Maggie met years ago with Georgie.
Let me know your guesses @KirstenAcuna on Twitter. You can follow along with our "Walking Dead" coverage here.
- Read more:
- 'The Walking Dead' star Ryan Hurst says he'd 'absolutely' return to 'TWD' universe and teases we may see his character againRyan Hurst says he couldn't see a thing during his battle on Sunday's 'The Walking Dead' finale
- 'The Walking Dead' showrunner discusses the show ending and what to expect in the final 30 episodes