Talking Dead seemingly debunks Duane Jones Bourbon fan theory

Early in the week before season 10, episode 19 aired, The Walking Dead social media accounts posted official photos from the episode to grow excitement. It didn’t take long at all for some fans to notice an incredible easter egg. One photo showed Father Gabriel and Aaron sharing a bottle of whiskey with the name Duane Jones on it.

Immediately the theories began. The first being, could Duane Jones himself be alive at Commonwealth or CRM making the whiskey? Gabriel and Aaron could have stumbled upon one of the many CRM outposts and found a bottle purposely left there for future consumption. With such an official label, fans theorized CRM would be the only place to get that made.

The theory of Duane being alive after all this time is common, but it’s also highly scrutinized. Losing Duane was a massive event in Morgan’s life, and it made him the person he is today. To think this was all a mistake, and he didn’t exhaust all options does come off as insulting to the character. So the next theory was that Morgan must be the person alive within CRM making the whiskey, and he named it after his son.

The Walking Dead episode and the Talking Dead episode both seem to debunk that this bottle is any hard proof. During the episode, Father Gabriel tells Aaron this is a bottle of whiskey worth 2 thousand dollars, and he tells a story about how he gained his knowledge of whiskey. This, of course, means that Duane Jones Bourbon pre-dates the apocalypse.

The Walking Dead gives fans a Duane Jones easter egg in the form of a bottle of whiskey. Unfortunately, it isn’t what fans were hoping for.

On Talking Dead, this bottle of whiskey wasn’t mentioned by anybody on the show live, but they did air a small segment that stated the following;

"“The whiskey Father Gabriel and Aaron are drinking in this episode is called Duane Jones Single Barrel 22 year old Bourbon”“Writer and Co-EP Jim Barnes chose this name as an homage to the actor Duane Jones, who played the main protagonist in Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.”"

Unfortunately, it does seem the theory of this bottle of whiskey connecting to the Jones family in any physical way has now been debunked. However, considering how much fans still talk about Duane Jones, it is rather suspicious for Talking Dead to not even mention Morgan’s son.

While paying homage to other works of horror is a regular occurrence for The Walking Dead, to ignore the fact this universe also has a character with the same name is odd. This bottle of whiskey may only be a beautiful homage to an incredible actor, or it could be a larger easter egg. Maybe fans will see Duane Jones again after all!

Do you think that Duane Jones will show up in The Walking Dead universe again someday? Would you like him too? Tweet me your thoughts @Mamadeadhead!