Now that the dust has cleared over Lennie James, the actor who plays Rick's pen pal Morgan on The Walking Dead, being British, it's time to ponder the bigger questions surrounding his character's reappearance. Are we going to see more Morgan in The Walking Dead Season 6? Surely, now that the character has reached Rick Grimes at the Alexandria Safe-Zone, he's going to join the cast of the AMC series for good... Right? The emotional cliffhanger in the Season 5 finale was all about Morgan seeing Rick shoot a living man upon entering Alexandria, thus potentially dashing his hopes for the future.
I doubt that Season 6 is going to open with Morgan saying "Nope! Sorry, must have been thinking of a different Rick Grimes. My mistake, see y'all later!" and getting out of Dodge. Especially given his comics background, I feel like we'll see more of him. I have a feeling that between now and next season, an announcement will be made that James has been promoted to either a series regular or at least recurring for the next year. Technically, the designation of "supporting cast" versus "guest star" has more to do with contractual obligations that appearances. All I'm really saying is, I think he'll stick around.
However, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly just after the season finale aired, James was unable to give fans many answers. "In all honesty, I don’t exactly know. I know I’ll be back around for at least one episode of season 6 and beyond that, as always, I am at the mercy of the show," he said.
This uncertainty includes the possibility of flashback episodes that explain where Morgan's been for the last two seasons and why he's so level-headed compared to Rick's most recent encounter with him. In the same EW interview, James gave the impression that he knows what Morgan's been through and thinks it's pretty cool. He elaborated in a an interview with Variety about the conversations he had with TWD showrunner Scott Gimple.
When I spoke to Scott he told me as much as he had formulated for himself about the pitch for (seasons) five and six. I do have a very rough sense and it is — I hope we get to tell the story in the way that Scott said to me he hopes we get to tell the story.
That sounds pretty promising. James is also looking forward to the possibility of working with the rest of the cast. I am too, honestly. One of my favorite moments from the finale was Daryl looking at Morgan/Abraham's map and recognizing Morgan without a word. How fun will it be to see him meet the rest of the group?
Whatever happened to Morgan is probably not connected to the Wolves, because we saw him encounter a Wolf for the first time in the season finale. That opens up a lot of possibilities, and I hope we get to see what went down. Wouldn't it be interesting if Morgan had his own experiences with either Terminus, Grady Memorial Hospital, or some other Walking Dead location or group that is long forgotten? I love the idea of the world becoming smaller, and Morgan is the perfect character to make that happen.
However, in the comics, Morgan has been with Rick and the survivors for a much longer time. They picked him up on the journey to Washington and he arrived at Alexandria with the group. He becomes a chef and a love interest (of sorts) for Michonne. That means there's plenty of potential for more Morgan when The Walking Dead returns.
Of course, The Walking Dead television series has license to do whatever it wants with the characters and frequently exercises that right. The fact that Morgan has popped up so infrequently on the show makes me hope that his character will become more important now that he's found the group at Alexandria. It's as though he and Rick Grimes are star-crossed bros on parallel paths to their destiny in this apocalypse.
Images: AMC; authorityalwayswins/Tumblr
