There’s one The Walking Dead character who never got a proper send-off, simply disappearing, and The Ones Who Live could bring him back.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live was arguably the most anticipated spin-off in the expanding franchise, and it’s also, to date, the best-reviewed and most-watched one. Centered around the characters of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira), they’re the focus of the six-episode first season.

However, with the primary setting being the Civic Republic Military (CRM) base, Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) also appears. This raises an interesting question about one long-forgotten character from The Walking Dead universe. It could, once and for all, close a storyline that has been hanging over the show as a loose end for some time.

What Happened to Heath in The Walking Dead?

Who is Heath? Long-time The Walking Dead fans will remember Heath, played by Corey Hawkins, as a survivor the original group encounters in Season 6. He first appears in the season’s inaugural episode, “First Time Again,” as a resident of the Alexandria Safe Zone. He, along with Scott (Kenric Green) and Annie (Beth Keener), is let back into the community by Eugene (Josh McDermitt), reportedly after having been on a supply run for weeks.

He is then seen prominently upon this return, including volunteering to be part of a group that herds walkers away from the community at Rick’s instruction. He is present with Glenn (Steven Yuen) and Nicholas (Michael Traynor) when they clear the tractor store to help keep the herd going on a path away from them.

He also had deep moments with Michonne, such as when Michonne explains that he hasn’t seen half of how bad things can get. “Have you ever,” she asked him, “been covered in so much blood that you didn’t know if it was yours, the walker’s, or your friend’s?” Despite living in the apocalyptic world for so long, Heath still had trouble processing the deaths of his friends, showing the trauma more so than others.

Heath is part of one of the biggest, most controversial attacks on the show when Rick leads a group to attack the Saviors at night and kill many members in their sleep. Heath has a hard time trying to participate in the heinous act: he can’t bring himself to kill a living person.

In a later episode, Heath is out on a supply run with Tara (Alanna Masterson), and they get separated. As the story goes, he is taken by Jadis and the Scavengers and sent to an unknown place in exchange for supplies. He was never seen again.

Knowing now that Jadis had a long-running deal with the CRM the whole time, fans inferred that Heath was delivered to them on a silver platter. Showrunner Angela Kang confirmed that he was indeed taken by the CRM. On the after-show talk show Talking Dead, it was also confirmed that the RV Jadis is seen driving in a later episode is the same one Heath was driving before he went missing, further solidifying this story. Showrunner Scott Gimple implied the character could make a return to the universe. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live makes perfect sense in terms of how and why.

Why Was Heath Written Out of The Walking Dead?

Fans were puzzled when Health disappeared so abruptly. Even when Tara returned to Alexandria without him, there was no discussion of his whereabouts, and he was never spoken of again. It was strange to have such a main character, particularly one with such a significant role in the comics on which the show is based, leave without a trace.

The reason Heath disappeared from the show has nothing to do with any behind-the-scenes drama; it was simply a matter of schedules. Hawkins was getting many fabulous movie opportunities around the same time he was on the show. He appeared in Straight Outta Compton, where he portrayed Dr. Dre. His big-screen star continued to rise when he starred in Kong: Skull Island and BlackKkKlansman. Hawkins also snagged the lead role in the short-lived 24 spin-off 24: Legacy. Needless to say, the actor couldn’t fit everything into his schedule, and The Walking Dead was the one project to go.

In a way, however, Heath’s mysterious exit was good news for the character. Not addressing it in detail left the door open for a return. And fans think it might be with this show.

How Could Heath Return to The Walking Dead Universe?

Based on details provided by The Walking Dead: World Beyond and The Ones Who Live (as well as in Rick’s final scene in the original series), fans know that when Jadis delivered someone to the CRM, she labeled them as being either an “A,” a tough-as-nails survivor who can inspire others or a “B,” everyday people just trying to survive. With Heath unable to process all the death and destruction around him and acting more as muscle than a leader, she would almost certainly have labeled him a “B.”

This means Heath could be working an everyday physical labor consignment job in the community. He could be anyone from a trash collector to a janitor, a painter to a store operator: the possibilities are endless. Assuming Jadis didn’t label him an A, which would have sent him to the labs to be experimented on, there’s no reason to believe that Heath is no longer alive.