‘The Walking Dead’s Emily Kinney Pays Tribute to Scott Wilson

Emily Kinney, who played Beth Greene on The Walking Dead, has paid tribute to her TV father Scott Wilson.

“The best TV dad a girl could ask for. An amazing actor, inspiration, and friend,” Kinney wrote on Instagram Sunday when sharing a candid shot of the pair together. “Love you, Scott. I miss you. RIP.”

Wilson died Saturday after a battle with leukemia. He was 76.

Best known for his roles in 1967’s In the Heat of the Night and 1980’s The Ninth Configuration before going on to join The Walking Dead in its second season as stubborn farmer Hershel Greene, Wilson quickly emerged as a fan-favorite in the hit series playing father to Kinney’s singing farm girl Beth and older half-sister Maggie (Lauren Cohan).

Kinney is the latest Walking Dead alum to pay respects to Wilson, joining former co-star Chandler Riggs, who also took to Instagram to memorialize the late star.

Lew Temple, who briefly starred alongside Kinney and Wilson in Season Three as short-lived prisoner Axel, hailed Wilson as “a true gentleman, a son, a husband, a father, a friend,” and “an artist of such excellence” who “made everything better.”

Sarah Wayne Callies — who starred alongside Wilson in seasons Two and Three — remembered Wilson in an Instagram post as “one of the finest humans I have known, as artists or men.”

Wilson’s return to The Walking Dead in Season Nine was announced by showrunner Angela Kang during the series’ New York Comic Con panel, just an hour before news of Wilson’s death became widespread on social media.

As first reported by ComicBook.com, Wilson had already filmed his scenes for the season ahead of his death. He will appear as part of the sentimental sendoff in store for exiting Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln.

Also reprising their roles this season are Jon Bernthal as Shane Walsh and Sonequa Martin-Green as Sasha.

The Walking Dead Season Nine premieres tonight at 9/8c on AMC.