Seth Gilliam Talks About Becoming Father Gabriel

Fans of The Walking Dead graphic novels (or comics, as some would say) are well aware of who Father Gabriel is.  However, since he is a character that will be introduced in season 5, viewers of the hit AMC television show may not have any clue who he is.

Recently, Entertainment Weekly sat down with Seth Gilliam, the actor who will play Father Gabriel, and asked him quite a few questions about joining The Walking Dead for season 5.  Here are some of the fun answers:

First, Seth Gilliam was asked what it was like to join the cast of The Walking Dead.

"It was pretty intimidating because it’s a well-oiled machine. But Andrew Lincoln was the first cast member that I met. And the guy has got a heart the size of the Grinch at the end of the Dr. Seuss story where it just grows and grows and grows. So he made me feel instantly welcome, and instantly a part of it. And everyone after that, I mean, they’re the warmest people and they’ve done everything they possibly can to make me feel like I’ve been part of it from the very beginning. But yeah, I was pretty intimidated by it, by the immensity of the show, the popularity of it, and also the depth of it."

And although he read about the origins of Father Gabriel, Seth Gilliam didn’t do too much research on the role:

"I only read the comic book where Father Gabriel was introduced, which I think was episode 61 in the comics. I didn’t read anything before that, and I haven’t read anything after that. I discovered from reading about the show that often times characters’ names and journeys are kind of crisscrossed and mismatched, so I thought if I did read too much I might be giving myself a lot of information that would be useless, or just outright wrong. So I figured, like with everything, I’d just take the script and try to fill him out the best I possibly can."

On a personal note, I’m very excited to see what Seth Gilliam can do as Father Gabriel.  As one of my favorite characters from the comics, Father Gabriel could quickly become one of the most talked about personalities on the show.  He should be one to watch for this coming October when The Walking Dead premieres on AMC.

To read the rest of the great article from Entertainment Weekly, click HERE!