4 The Walking Dead characters who probably won’t be back in 2023

Father Gabriel Stokes

Father Gabriel Stokes spent a lot of his run on The Walking Dead struggling. He was struggling with his Faith, and struggling to survive. The latter he quickly learned to do when he became a member of Rick’s group of survivors, and he eventually found his Faith again too.

Gabriel was a completely different person by the end of the series and much of that had to do with his will to survive and protect his loved ones, but now that they have all achieved some level of peace at Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Commonwealth, he can focus on raising his adopted daughter Coco in a world much safer than the one he fought his way through for years, keeping her mother’s legacy alive for decades to come.

With The Walking Dead Universe moving away from the settlements that have dominated the show’s run in the immediate future, it will likely be some time before we see Gabriel again (that is, if we do revisit the communities one day). Like Aaron, he will be focused on leading Alexandria, protecting it and working with the Commonwealth and Hilltop to ensure it flourishes – and that is something he will likely be doing off-screen.