The Walking Dead's Heath Mystery Is Still Unsolved Four Years After He Disappeared

Where is Heath? It's been four years since the zombie apocalypse survivor played by Corey Hawkins went missing from The Walking Dead, making his disappearance one of the longest-running mysteries in the show's history. In season 7 episode "Swear," which first aired on November 27 in 2016, Heath and Tara (Alanna Masterson) near the end of a two-week scavenging outing when Tara washes ashore on a beach near the all-female community of Oceanside. It's there that Tara is taken prisoner by Natania (Deborah May) and nearly killed by Beatrice (Briana Venskus) to prevent the secluded Oceanside from being discovered by the Saviors.

But Tara is saved by Cyndie (Sydney Park) and swears to keep Oceanside a secret even from Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), who is leading the resistance against Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the Saviors. In flashbacks, Heath appears to abandon Tara when the pair come under attack from sand-covered walkers, but he returns and guns down one of the sandy skinbags pinning her down.

We see Heath for the last time when walkers send Tara toppling over a bridge, causing her to wash up near Oceanside. When she returns to where she last saw him, Tara spots Heath's broken glasses and tire tracks from their now-missing RV. She unearths a dropped key card marked "PPP," telling herself: "Maybe that was you. I hope that was you."

Heath appears in season 10 episode "What We Become," where he's shot and killed by Michonne (Danai Gurira) when she hallucinates what might have happened if she were one of the Saviors. Hawkins did not film for the episode, which used archival footage of Heath from season 6 episode "Not Tomorrow Yet."

In-universe, it's been more than seven years since Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) of the Scavengers abducted Heath and traded him to the Civic Republic Military — the same group who flies Rick away aboard a helicopter in season 9 episode "What Comes After." Showrunner Angela Kang confirmed this connection after Rick went missing in 2018.

In 2017, then-showrunner Scott Gimple told Entertainment Weekly that "we definitely have not seen the last of Heath, period." Hawkins left The Walking Dead to pursue other acting opportunities, but according to Gimple, "[Heath] will be on the show. He will be within The Walking Dead again."

But there are just 30 episodes left until the end of The Walking Dead, including the 24-episode eleventh and final season that begins airing in 2021.

If Heath doesn't resurface in the mothership show, he could join Lincoln in Gimple's Walking Dead feature films or Tales of the Walking Dead, an episodic anthology series now in development at AMC. The untitled movie series follows Rick after his abduction and involves the CRM, who we see in the two-season limited event series The Walking Dead: World Beyond.

The Walking Dead returns with new episodes on February 28, 2021, on AMC. Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for all things TWD.