The Walking Dead Midseason Finale Introduces Mysterious New Character

The Walking Dead Season 10 midseason finale will add new character Virgil (Kevin Carroll), who encounters Michonne (Danai Gurira) and daughter Judith (Cailey Fleming) during their trip to Oceanside in "The World Before." Virgil and actor Carroll were first announced at San Diego Comic-Con in July, where executive producer Gale Anne Hurd described Virgil as a "resourceful" survivor who is "desperate to get home." The character has no exact counterpart in the comic books, but he might have been inspired by Pete, who was an Oceanside fisherman and ship captain introduced in the general timeframe now playing out in the television series.

Pete also appeared as a key character in The Walking Dead: Michonne, Telltale Games and Skybound's comic book tie-in video game that took place during the two-year time jump separating The Walking Dead issues #126 and #127. It was during this time that Michonne took to seafaring life, only returning to Virginia in issue #139 two years after she abandoned lover Ezekiel.

In the comics, Pete convinced Ezekiel to reconnect with the estranged Michonne just before the king was captured and murdered by Alpha and her Whisperers.

The Walking Dead's first Season 10 trailer, released at Comic-Con, showed a glimpse of what appeared to be Michonne setting sail. The preview for the midseason finale confirms Michonne and Virgil take to the sea together, but where their charted course leads won't be revealed until "The World Before."

In April, showrunner Angela Kang said Gurira's commitments outside TWD meant a "reduced" role for Michonne in year ten, but the scarcely seen Alexandrian leader would nonetheless play a "significant" part in the season.

"Well, we are going to be doing some creative things with the order in which we write and shoot things so that she's sort of woven in a little bit," Kang told Deadline. "With Black Panther, Avengers and plays of her own and everything, I think Danai obviously is having an amazing career moment. She's like an international treasure."

It has been hinted, but not confirmed, that Michonne could exit the television series only to search for Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), bringing Gurira into The Walking Dead movie franchise. However Gurira departs the mothership series, the exit will be accompanied by its own mysteries.

"To send a character off the show, and [decide] how we wanted to do that… I know Angela and the writers spent a lot of time discussing it in the build-up to this season. It is tricky. It's a very difficult thing to do," executive producer Denise Huth previously told Radio Times. "I think it's going to be great — I think it will ultimately be very satisfying and also raise a whole bunch of other questions."

The Walking Dead next airs its midseason finale Sunday, Nov. 24 at 9/8c on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.