The Walking Dead season 8 finale bucked the trend of the infamously bloodthirsty zombie drama and ended up not killing any major characters. That was the whole point, after all, as it was about Rick deciding to live up to Carl’s final wish and let his mercy prevail over his wrath. That said, one person who looked to be written out of the series was former-Savior-turned-ally Dwight, as played by Austin Amelio.
If you recall, a repentant Dwight left his life in Daryl’s hands. Despite their antagonistic history, Daryl let his old enemy live and encouraged him to find his wife, Sherry. The last time we saw him, Dwight had discovered a note from her at their house, suggesting that he was going to reunite with her eventually.
So, is this the conclusion of Dwight’s story in The Walking Dead? It was pretty open-ended, after all. TV Line posed the question to outgoing showrunner – and new Chief Content Officer – Scott M. Gimple and got an unsurprisingly cryptic reply in return. The writer/producer did stop short of ruling out a possible comeback for the character, but said the following:
“Hmm. I will say definitively, he’s not dead, so you never know. But I shan’t go deeper into it than that.”
I know we should know better by now than to expect the show to follow the comic books too slavishly, but Dwight’s significant ongoing role in Robert Kirkman’s source material does suggest that he won’t stay away from the assembled communities forever. Seeing as it feels like there’s more to do with his character – both in terms of adapting the comics and following the TV version’s own trajectory – we wouldn’t be surprised if he returned immediately next season.
The Walking Dead season 9, now under the purview of latest showrunner Angela Kang, will apparently enjoy “renewed vigor, vitality [and] energy,” according to star Andrew Lincoln. Look for it to hit AMC this fall.
