The Walking Dead: Surprising Character Returns In Season 7 Finale

Major spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 16 follow.

If you were one of the nearly seven million people who jumped off of The Walking Dead‘s bandwagon following his death, you missed the return of Sergeant Abraham Ford on the AMC series.

The character who dodged his own comic book death only to be killed off more brutally a few episodes later appeared in the Season 7 finale of The Walking Dead multiple times to help reveal Sasha’s story and offer a bit of insight regarding his last day on earth.

The scenes are playing out in the episode titled The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life as a series of flashbacks from Sasha’s perspective as her dark fate continues to play out with Negan and company.

For Michael Cudlitz, this is likely the last time he will appear on the show. Whether or not we will see Steven Yeun portraying Glenn ever again is to be seen. If it would require the same circumstances to trigger such flashbacks for Maggie, most fans would likely opt to leave Glenn as a memory.

Cudlitz’s Abraham character is not the only character to return to the show after being killed off. Rick’s wife Lori appeared in several scenes after her death during childbirth, all of which were a part of Rick’s imagination. Hershel also appeared in a flashback scene after losing his head to the Governor, farming with Rick at the prison and reminding him of what the world can be.

Flashbacks can be a useful tool for storytelling. The Walking Dead‘s sibling series Fear the Walking Dead has used LOST-style flashbacks in several episodes to develop characters. Whether or not The Walking Dead will continue to execute such tricks to furthers its story will be seen when the show returns for its 8th season in October.

MORE WALKING DEAD: Tom Payne Teases Overthrowing Gregory / Can Rick Trust Dwight? / Tom Payne On Jesus’ Sexuality Reveal / Tom Payne Reveals Epic Deleted Scene From 7×15 / Andrew Lincoln’s Amazing Series Ending Idea / Is Sasha Already Dead? / Who Is Negan’s “Little Birdy”?

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.