Remember Heath? His disappearance back in The Walking Dead season 7 is one of the show’s biggest unanswered questions that’s been gnawing away at fans like a particularly persistent walker for two years now. You may recall that episode 6 of that season saw Heath vanish after he was separated from Tara and he was basically never mentioned again, with no explanation being given for what happened to him.
The most recent TWD episode, though, finally revealed what happened to the character. As confirmed on Sunday’s Talking Dead aftershow, the RV Anne’s seen driving in Rick Grimes’ final hour was the same one Heath was last seen in way back when. Business Insider then got hold of showrunner Angela Kang to confirm that this must mean that Heath was also taken away by helicopter, just like Rick was by the end of the episode.
She admitted that Heath’s sudden disappearance was due to Corey Hawkins’ busy schedule, but that the writers also planned to revisit the reason for that mystery eventually and finally, they at long last have.
“That was kind of the intention that we had in the back of our heads this whole time. Even back in that season where you know we had to write the wonderful Corey Hawkins out because he had huge opportunities in the feature film world… those seeds were already set there.”
Well, that answers the big question about Heath. Now we have several more, though. For instance, was he classified as an “A” or a “B” by Anne? Also, where did he go next? And, perhaps most important of all, will he show up again? Perhaps we’ll see him in the trio of TV movies that are on the way, which will follow what happens to Rick after he was flown away.
Kang can’t say for sure whether Hawkins will return to the franchise, but she’s certainly hopeful, telling Business Insider:
“I hope so, too. He’s a wonderful human being and a terrific actor.”
The first Walking Dead spinoff movie is due to head into production in 2019, with no word on an exact release date as of yet. In the meantime, season 9 continues every Sunday on AMC.