The Walking Dead: Seth Gilliam on Father Gabriel’s Death in Season 10

The Walking Dead has been known to push the envelope on character deaths with some being more gruesome than others. Rarely do characters get peaceful sendoffs. Main characters are usual blasted out of the show in the vein of Negan bashing their head with a baseball bat or being ripped apart in a revolving door. If Seth Gilliam’s Father Gabriel is going to get the same death as the character did in Robert Kirkman’s comic books, another gruesome conclusion is in order for a main character. In fact, it is something Gilliam hopes to see realized on the AMC series.

“It’s not too good for Father Gabriel when the Whisperers show up,” Gilliam laughed with ComicBook.com at The Walking Dead Season 10 premiere. Ahead of the Whisperers’ arrival, Gilliam applauded Kirkman and artist Charlie Adlard’s efforts on the death, promising it is how he would like to see his character’s story end.

“I don’t get nervous about it,” Gilliam said, despite Gabriel’s death meaning the end of a six-year tenure with The Walking Dead. “I mean you know no day is promised to anyone. So you know when it happens, it happens. I want Father Gabriel’s exit from the show to be operatic. And I think his death in the comic books is definitely that… Hanging upside down, screaming.”

Heading into the show’s tenth season, not much is changing for Gilliam behind the scenes. “My routine remains the same in preparing for coming in and doing the season,” the actor says. “It’s mostly just the material that’s very different, you know.” Still, things might be changing a bit for his Father Gabriel, especially as Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan makes his way out of jail for the first time since Season 8. Gilliam promises there will be “a good deal of tension, a good deal of anxiety, a good deal of trauma.”

That said, the actor also reteams with former Abraham Ford actor Michael Cudlitz as he returns to the AMC series as a director again. “It’s like watching your big brother make the transition from the junior varsity to the pros in a way,” Gilliam said. “You’re cheering them on. You already have a relationship with them that’s established so the comfort level is there. And the trust is there. And Cudlitz did a fantastic job. He’s got fantastic enthusiasm. He knows the material. He knows the characters. I’m excited for his episodes.”

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The Walking Dead returns for its tenth season at 9pm ET on October 6 on AMC.