The Walking Dead Star Reveals Hint About Masked Mystery Man in Season 10 Finale

The Walking Dead star Ross Marquand appears to reveal a telling hint about the identity of the mystery survivor in the iron mask who encounters Aaron (Marquand) and Alden (Callan McAuliffe) in the Season 10 finale now airing this October on AMC. After escaping an abandoned Alexandria currently overrun by Beta's (Ryan Hurst) walker horde and fending off masked Whisperers, Aaron and Alden meet the ninja-looking survivor wielding Japanese kama weapons in the opening minutes of "A Certain Doom." But who was that masked man? Suspected by fans to somehow be a long-dead character or a newcomer from the comic book universe, Marquand says the hooded figure is, indeed, a male:

"It felt to me like as much of a huge introduction to a character as we saw in Season 3 with Michonne, when we see her finally come into it," Marquand said Friday during the Walking Dead Comic-Con@Home virtual panel. "It felt like that, and it was just very exciting to see it all come together. That reveal was just so exciting and scary at the same time, too, because he looks like something out of a horror movie."

One common theory about the masked man's identity: he'll be revealed as the long-missing Heath (Corey Hawkins), a former resident of the Alexandria community who disappeared during a scavenging trip with Tara (Alanna Masterson) in the show's seventh season. Showrunner Angela Kang earlier confirmed the vanished Heath was abducted by CRM — the Civic Republic Military — the helicopter group behind the disappearance of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln).

Former showrunner turned Walking Dead chief content officer Scott Gimple in 2017 said viewers "definitely have not seen the last of Heath, period," telling Entertainment Weekly both Heath and Hawkins "will be within The Walking Dead again." (If the iron-masked survivor isn't Heath, he's likely to resurface in the Walking Dead feature films following Rick after his abduction.)

The masked man enters just as Maggie (Lauren Cohan) returns to Virginia and unearths a letter from Carol (Melissa McBride) warning her about the Whisperers, the cult previously commanded by Alpha (Samantha Morton).

It's unclear whether the iron-masked mystery man reaches the area alongside Maggie, who spent a long time away helping Georgie (Jayne Atkinson) with a new community.

The Walking Dead Season 10 finale, "A Certain Doom," premieres Sunday, October 4 on AMC. For all things The Walking Dead, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.