The Walking Dead Announces Season 10 Return Date With Surprising New Cast Member

The extended tenth season of The Walking Dead will return to AMC early in 2021, as the network [...]

By Kofi Outlaw

The extended tenth season of The Walking Dead will return to AMC early in 2021, as the network just announced that the new episodes will premiere on February 28th. In addition to this news, the series revealed a major new cast addition in the form of Terminator 2 and Scorpion star Robert Patrick. Patrick's casting was slyly revealed during a table read with the cast for the forthcoming Season 10 episode "One More." As the stars rehearse over video conference, we get a scene of actors Ross Marquand's Aaron and Seth Gilliam's Father Gabriel in which they get drunk in a warehouse at night. The scene takes a dark turn when Gabriel wakes up to find Aaron missing, though he is joined by a mysterious stranger played by Patrick. The stranger proceeds to interrogate Gabriel about why he continues to dress in the garb of a priest amid the zombie apocalypse.

"Hello." Patrick's character says.

"My name's Gabriel, what's yours?"

"Why do you wear that?" Patrick's character growls.

"What?"

"The collar. Why do you still wear it?"

From there the scene takes a turn, as Gabriel tries to explain his reason for continuing his faith is the same as the apparent reason this stranger keeps a room full of bibles: hope. But as it turns out, Patrick's character has a different world view: he uses the bibles as toilet paper.

Robert Patrick The Walking Dead
(Photo: Robert Patrick in FX's "Mayans M.C." )

If that doesn't set the tone for the kind of character that Patrick is playing, or what kind of themes this episode is dealing with, we don't know what will. Unlike a lot of other Walking Dead villains, this new antagonist looks like he's going to be a spiritual threat as much as he potentially is a violent one.

Here's the full press release about Robert Patrick joining The Walking Dead:

AMC announced today that The Walking Dead's extended 10th season of six new episodes will premiere Sunday, February 28 at 9pm ET/8c. All six episodes will also debut early on AMC+, the premium streaming bundle, every Thursday prior to the episodes' linear premieres on Sundays, beginning February 25. New guest stars featured in these episodes include Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Perry Mason, Scorpion) as "Mays" and Hilarie Burton Morgan (One Tree Hill, White Collar, Friday Night In with the Morgans) as "Lucille," along with new co-star Okea Eme-Akwari (Greenland, Cobra Kai) as "Elijah," among others.

AMC also released a new table read clip from one of the new episodes, "One More" featuring Ross Marquand, Seth Gilliam, Robert Patrick and narrated by Josh McDermitt which can be viewed here.

Last on The Walking Dead, we witnessed the fall of Alpha (Samantha Morton) and the end of the Whisperers War. The Kingdom had fallen, Hilltop was virtually destroyed and Alexandria abandoned to prepare for final battle. Our survivors were trapped and separated from one another. Yet, when faced with almost certain death, they rallied together to fight, killing Beta (Ryan Hurst) and eliminating the threat of the horde.

In these six new episodes, we find our survivors trying to pick themselves up by their bootstraps following the destruction the Whisperers left in their wake. The years of struggle weigh upon them as past traumas surface, exposing their more vulnerable sides. As they question the state of humanity, the state of their collective community, and the states of their minds, will they find the inner strength to persevere with their lives, friendships, and group intact?

The Walking Dead season 10 will continue on Sunday, February 28, 2021.

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