The Walking Dead’s Seth Gilliam Explains Father Gabriel’s Surprising Sin in “One More”

Seth Gilliam explains why Father Gabriel is more sinner than saint in “One More,” where the preacher makes an unexpected “executive decision” when dealing with lone survivor Mays (Robert Patrick). The latest episode of The Walking Dead pairs Gabriel with the one-armed Aaron (Ross Marquand) and sets them off in search of food and supplies to bring back to Alexandria, their home community left in tatters by the Whisperers. When their chance encounter with Mays culminates in a forced game of Russian Roulette that will end only with Gabriel or Aaron’s death — either by murder or by suicide — Gabriel convinces the physically and emotionally scarred survivor to come with them to Alexandria.

Despite believing there’s nothing left in the world but “thieves and murderers,” Mays is swayed into accepting Gabriel and Aaron’s offer to help him and become part of a community “full of people who were lost and found their way back.” But Gabriel suddenly kills Mays with a single swing of Aaron’s spiked arm apparatus.

“I think he sized him up from the very beginning as more of a threat than someone that could be trusted in a community behind walls where children are running free and things are shared. I think Gabriel made a decision pretty early on,” Gilliam told Entertainment Weekly. “I don’t think he foresaw having to play Russian Roulette, but I think that just kind of capped it for him, that someone would do that to other people, put other people in that position, is beyond hope. So, Gabriel made an executive decision.”

Asked if he believes Gabriel made the right call in killing the madman Mays, Gilliam said, “I think for Gabriel it was. I don’t think he had any hesitation about it. I think yeah, it’s the right call. The guy’s a danger, the guy’s a threat, the guy’s unstable, the guy’s too damaged. He’s been wounded far beyond repair.”

Some fans shocked by the surprise kill have called Gabriel’s move “cold-blooded.” Gabriel’s latest kill comes after he brutally murdered Dante (Juan Javier Cardenas) to avenge Siddiq (Avi Nash), his best friend-turned-victim of a Whisperer spy.

Gabriel’s decision left a blood-splattered Aaron visibly disturbed. When Gabriel nonchalantly said “we’re good” after killing Mays, Aaron responded: “Are we?”

“I think it’s certainly redeemable, but I think it’s going to give Aaron pause, and it’s going to make him really question the kind of man Gabriel is moving forward,” Marquand told ComicBook.com. “I don’t think there’s any way Aaron couldn’t be wildly affected by that and not look at Gabriel as someone who may have changed irrevocably.”

Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for all things TWD. New episodes of The Walking Dead extended Season 10 premiere Sundays at 9 pm ET/8c on AMC.