The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live episode 5’s big cameo was hardly the character most were expecting, but was still the right choice for the show.

While Gabriel was hardly the most obvious candidate for a surprise cameo in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, he turned out to be the right choice in the end. Played by Seth Gilliam, Gabriel became the fourth main character from the main show to appear in the spinoff via an appearance in season 1’s penultimate episode. His return in Rick and Michonne’s spinoff wasn’t a major object of speculation, even though there were suspicions that another familiar face would join the fold.

Gabriel was one of several characters whose futures were left unclear by The Walking Dead series finale. The spinoffs have granted many longtime favorites opportunities to return by headlining new spinoffs, but in the case of characters like Gabriel, Eugene, and Aaron, it was hard to say if they’d ever come back. With The Ones Who Live being a series about Michonne wanting to bring Rick Grimes home to Alexandria, there was hope that their adventure together would facilitate some exciting cameos. The show met that expectation, albeit not with one of the characters that seemed primed for a return.

Walking Dead Had Set Up Morgan Or Heath For The Ones Who Live, Not Gabriel

Based on the setup in previous shows, Morgan and Heath were the characters who seemingly had the best odds of showing up in The Ones Who Live. Heath hasn’t been around since The Walking Dead season 7, but thanks to confirmation from Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang, it;’s been known for years that Heath was abducted by the Civic Republic Military. With Rick and Heath being the only two characters from the main show to get captured by them prior to The Ones Who Live, it stood to reason that if the franchise was ever going to tie up this loose end, it’d be in Rick’s show.

In addition to a cameo from Heath, the franchise also created room for Rick to meet up with Morgan Jones in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Morgan’s final episode in Fear the Walking Dead set this up directly by having Morgan announce his decision to look for Rick. Heading in this direction paid off his final episodes’ references to Rick Grimes and clearly paved the way for a reunion. That didn’t prove it would happen right away, but it demonstrated that a future Rick-Morgan team-up is a possibility that the franchise is at least entertaining.

Gabriel’s Cameo In The Ones Who Live Actually Makes Perfect Sense

In spite of there being more groundwork for a Heath or Morgan cameo in The Ones Who Live, Gabriel being the one to come back makes perfect sense for the show. He may not have the history with Rick that Morgan has, nor he is someone with a rich connection to the CRM, but he does have an important link to Jadis. The Walking Dead season 9 featured a short-lived romance with the two that wound up being one of the stepping stones toward Jadis turning Rick over to the CRM.

With Rick and Jadis exiting the show together, The Walking Dead moved on with Gabriel’s story, but never did get to offer closure when it came to Jadis. The Ones Who Live circled back to this by revealing that Gabriel enjoyed occasional rendezvouses with Jadis, all the while oblivious to her involvement in Rick’s “death.” Their scenes together in episode 5 furthered Jadis’ story, partly by humanizing her again. Only the darker shades of her character had been on display in The Ones Who Live, but Gabriel’s return brought Jadis’ redeemable qualities back to the surface.

The Ones Who Live cleverly utilized the dynamic they had in the main show to properly end Jadis’ long arc in the franchise. After getting bitten by a zombie, Jadis could have doomed Alexandria by revealing nothing to Rick and Michonne and essentially getting the last laugh before dying. Remembering her time with Gabriel pushed Jadis into making a massive self-realization at a critical point, ultimately giving Rick and Michonne a way forward.

Seth Gilliam Was The Walking Dead’s Most Underrated Star (& Deserved A Return)

Seth Gilliam’s underrated performance across several seasons of The Walking Dead underscored what The Ones Who Live would gain from a Gabriel cameo. As someone who went from a coward to one of the leaders of the main group, Gabriel is easily one of the show’s most well-developed characters. Gilliam’s emotional delivery has done much to showcase the various facets of the character, not the least of which being his ability to provide heartfelt advice to people who need it. This aspect of Gabriel’s personality made his episode 5 cameo a perfect conduit for Jadis’ ending.

How Gabriel’s Return Sets Up The Ones Who Live’s Finale

Gabriel’s role in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live also carries some interesting implications for the spinoff’s ending. His opening scene showed him fighting a zombie and gazing up at what was most likely a CRM helicopter. Judging by this tease, Gabriel is off on an adventure of his own, possibly to look for Jadis and her people. Setting him on this journey could lead to a team-up with Rick and Michonne for a climactic battle with the CRM in The Ones Who Live’s ending. Having seen what they did to Jadis, Gabriel could have personal reasons for getting involved.

Will Morgan & Heath Actually Return In The Walking Dead (& When)?

Regardless of whether Gabriel continues to be relevant to The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, his arrival in the series does nothing to rule out a scenario where Heath or Morgan meets Rick and Michonne. Gabriel’s presence in the show may amount to just one of a few surprises the spinoff has in store. However, it is possible that Jadis and Gabriel were the only two Walking Dead characters Rick and MIchonne were meant to encounter in season 1.

Unless Rick and Michonne pull off a miracle by bringing down the CRM in one episode, there’s a good chance The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live season 2 is in the cards. If another season happens, there will naturally be more chances for cameos. It’s been a long time since Heath was last seen so it’s hard to say if the franchise still needs to tie up that loose end, but the recency of Morgan’s promise to find Rick – and the directness of the tease – strengthens the likelihood of him showing up in the near future.