The Walking Dead Could Bring Back This Unexpected Character

By Brent McKnight | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

The Walking DeadAs massively popular as The Walking Dead is, AMC’s zombie extravaganza only offers a very limited view of this particular world. With the new companion series, Cobalt, coming down the pipeline, one of the things we’re looking forward to is seeing something besides one small group of survivors wandering endlessly through the Georgia wilderness. Reportedly set in a different time—starting at the beginning of the zombie outbreak rather than jumping into the middle—many have speculated that we could encounter earlier versions of the some of the characters, or perhaps even see a few that died. It’s starting to look like they’re bringing back one character, but it probably isn’t who you expect.

You might remember Morales, played by Juan G. Pareja, from the six-episode first season of The Walking Dead. He and his family were a part of the group that Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) joins up with after he wakes up from a coma in a hospital and discovers the world has been overrun by walkers. While we haven’t seen him in a while, Morales, at least as far as we know, is not dead. When the group decides to go to the CDC, a move Robert Kirkman says he regrets, Morales and his family strike out on their own, heading instead to Birmingham, Alabama to look for other members of their clan. Not being dead definitely makes it easier to bring someone back and provides more options as to how.

There have been rumors circulating for a while that Morales could return, especially after Pareja tweeted this back in October:

Most people assumed that this meant we were going to see Morales in season 5 of The Walking Dead, which is currently on its midseason break. Again, he’s still alive, and it wouldn’t be the first time the show has brought in a blast from the past. Merle (Michael Rooker) came back after being gone (but we all knew he would), and Lennie James’ Morgan has popped up a time or two recently, apparently tracking the main group (we still don’t know exactly what’s going on there). So it wouldn’t blow our minds to see Morales show up. But according to IMDb, Morales is going to be a part of Cobalt. Here’s a screen shot of the cast list, which doesn’t even include the most recent addition, Kim Dickens, who won the job as the female lead.

CobaltThe real question is how Morales is going to be a part of the spinoff. There could be a connection between Morales and some of the characters from the new series, though Cobalt takes place in Los Angeles and Morales and his family start their journey in Atlanta. They could have made their way from coast to coast, but that’s a long journey, especially early on, when everything was still totally fucked up. It’s also possible they made it all the way from Atlanta to LA after leaving the group, but if the spinoff is indeed set earlier than the flagship series, he won’t show up for quite some time. Then again, this is all just an unconfirmed rumor at this point.

It’s actually easier to imagine Morales showing up back in The Walking Dead than Cobalt. He left, but he’s familiar with this group, and he, like Morgan, has a walkie-talkie, so perhaps he could be following them in a similar manner.

Right now, this is all based on wild conjecture. It’s not uncommon for IMDb to have things wrong, especially at this stage in the process. And like I said, Dickens isn’t even on this list, so who the hell knows how accurate it is. This also seems like a strange choice. Producers have said they don’t want to share characters, and Morales never had a ton of personality, and it’s not like he was hugely popular or anything, only appearing in a handful of episodes.

What do you think, is Morales coming back? Do you think we’ll see him on Cobalt? Do you care at all?