'The Walking Dead' star reacts to Sunday's unexpected reveal: 'There are different plans for Father Gabriel'

• Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for "TWD" season 11, episode eight, "For Blood."
• Seth Gilliam tells Insider he wishes Father Gabriel and Pope got a scene together.
• Pope was surprisingly killed on the show's Part one of three finales over the next year.

It looks like Pope and Father Gabriel will not be exchanging any heated religious debates on "TWD."

On Sunday's "The Walking Dead," Leah unexpectedly killed the leader of the Reapers before Maggie, Elijah, Negan, or Gabriel could get to him.

Fans had been hoping to see a scene between the two religious figures on the show's final season. It's something Seth Gilliam, who plays Gabriel on "The Walking Dead," was hoping we'd get to see on screen, too.

"I would have loved to have had that," Gilliam told Insider when we asked if he wanted to share a scene with Ritchie Coster's Pope.

"I think the guy who plays Pope is a terrific actor, very intensive and very creative," Gilliam added. "It would have been a lot of fun to play with him. But, alas, there are different plans for Father Gabriel."

Hopefully, those plans don't involve Gabriel getting caught by the Reapers when the show returns from its hiatus in February. He breached the community walls to gather food for his people.

Showrunner Angela Kang told Insider Coster's role as Pope was "always intended" to be "a fairly limited arc." But, after seeing Coster's performance she wished they had the character around a bit longer.

"That was always kind of our intention," Kang said of Pope's small part on "TWD." "It would have been fascinating to hear Gabriel kind of go toe-to-toe with this guy."

Though we never got to see an exchange of religious beliefs between the two, Gilliam gave us some insight into how Gabe would've felt about Pope's extreme religious views, calling them bullshit. (Reminder: Pope burned one of his own men alive and sent another to his death to be killed by walkers all in the name of God this season.)

"[He's] just another self-absorbed narcissistic human being," Gilliam said. "This is not godly behavior. This is not God-like in its message, in its intention. You're a false prophet."

When we said it sounded like Father Gabriel would have chosen violence and potentially stabbed Pope, Gilliam said, "Yes."

Sunday's episode of "TWD" was part one of three total finales for the show's final 11th season. Instead of the usual 16-episode season, the series' final season will run for an extended 24 episodes.

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