The Walking Dead Star Anticipates More Scenes Between Father Gabriel and Negan

Father Gabriel actor Seth Gilliam is hoping his prayers are answered for more scenes opposite Jeffrey Dean Morgan‘s Negan in the final season of The Walking Dead. The villain confessed his sins to the priest in Season 8 episode “The Big Scary U,” revealing pieces of his backstory ahead of the Season 10 prequel episode “Here’s Negan,” but would almost pull the trigger on Gabriel’s execution in “Wrath.” When Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) jailed Negan to end All Out War against the Saviors, Gabriel became Negan’s caretaker and counselor and was subsequently trolled by Negan when he called Gabriel “Father Not-the-Father” of girlfriend Rosita’s (Christian Serratos) child.

“The [Gabriel-Negan] scenes were kind of magical for me. I love working with Jeffrey Dean, I think he’s fantastic. He’s a total class act, and he just gets the greatest stuff to say that I then have to respond to and just kind react to, which is a lot of fun,” Gilliam said during The Walking Dead Extended Season 10 Preview Special. “I would hope that we have more interactions together because I think the two have quite an interesting dynamic. They’re coming from complete polar opposites of the spectrum, but somehow they seem to pop into the same mind frame for a moment and then go back to their disparate points of view.”

On more scenes between Gabriel and Negan, Gilliam added, “I’m really looking forward to it, I hope so. I purposefully have not read any of the episodes in Season 10C so I can watch them as a fan. So I don’t know where he winds up, but hopefully, it’s back at Alexandria, and Father Gabriel and Negan can have some more interactions.”

After nearly a decade of solitary confinement, Negan is a free man and must co-exist alongside the returned Rhees — Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and her now eight-year-old son Hershel (Kien Michael Spiller) — when Maggie’s small group of survivors has no choice but to relocate to Alexandria in the wake of the Whisperer War.

Still distrusted by a majority of Alexandrians, Negan might make a new friend if or when he meets up with newcomer survivor Princess (Paola Lázaro). According to Lázaro, the fuzzy pink coat-wearing outsider with a big personality would “absolutely” forgive Negan for his past crimes.

“I think she would because she’s made her own mistakes, and has gotten to a point where soon, hopefully, she can forgive herself for those mistakes and others can forgive her for her past mistakes,” Lázaro teased during the Preview Special. “So I think she will definitely see past his grave mistakes, and really forgive him and actually grow very fond of him, I believe, because they both have that spark and this big energy. I think she will definitely forgive him.”

Season 10 of The Walking Dead returns with six all-new bonus episodes Sunday, February 28, on AMC. Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for all things TWD.