The Walking Dead introduced a brand new character on Sunday night, one which is not a part of the comics in any way and is completely unique to the AMC series. The character might be reflective of a face from the books, one which also appeared in the Telltale games based on those comics, but still seems to be mostly unique to the TV series. The new character’s name is Virgil and he is played by Kevin Carroll. Virgil was first revealed over the summer, described by The Walking Dead executive producer Gale Anne Hurd as “resourceful” with images being revealed months ago on social media.
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As Michonne is primed for an exit from The Walking Dead given Danai Gurira’s impending departure in the show’s back half of Season 10, Virgil might play a role in this if he is reflective of Pete from The Walking Dead comics. Pete is originally from Virginia and plays a large role in Michonne’s emotional life. In the books, Michonne is quite an introvert and does not show her feelings. As a result, her relationship with Ezekiel is a rocky one, and Pete is responsible for preventing her both from committing suicide and in helping her be willing to open up to Ezekiel.
How might this factor into the TV series? Virgil could play a similar role in Michonne’s life, given that her love Rick Grimes survived the explosion on the bridge in Season 9 and she seems to have held out a bit of hope for him when others accepted his death despite never finding his body. If Virgil can convince Michonne to head off and track down Rick, his homage to Pete from the comics and Gurira’s exit from The Walking Dead can be carried out simultaneously.
“It was overwhelming,” Gurira admitted to ComicBook.com in October about her exit from the series. “I mean, I haven’t talked about it yet because we haven’t really said I was done yet, so it was kinda just talking about it for the first time now but it was really overwhelming, the love. They got me because I thought I was going home.”
What do you think of The Walking Dead‘s newest character? Can he be trusted? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram and Twitter.
The Walking Dead will return for the back half of its tenth season in February of 2020.
