AMC's The Walking Dead was spinning a lot of plates throughout its decade-long run. The series dabbled in an unpredictable world full of dangers that came in the forms of both walkers and human threats. From the endless array of undead hordes to the villains that hid behind them, there was a lot for our survivors to deal with throughout the series. And the franchise learned a lot from that, throwing even more at them through the various spinoffs.
All that being said, The Walking Dead and its respective spinoffs did a lot to provide each of these respective arcs and storylines with satisfying conclusions. And yet,t here is one infamous storyline that fans spent days, weeks, months, and even years asking about more answers for. Although they didn't come in the show, the creative team did address it behind-the-scenes.
The Walking Dead never revealed what happened to Heath on-screen
Heath has become one of the most infamous characters on The Walking Dead - and not necessarily because of anything that he did during his time on the show. Portrayed by Corey Hawkins, Heath was a survivor of the Alexandria Safe-Zone, who became a trusted ally of Rick Grimes and his group of survivors. However, the character randomly disappeared during his time on the show and was never heard from again.
It took place in season 7 episode 6, titled "Swear", as Heath joined Tara on a supply run. As the pair approached Oceanside, they were separated by a horde of walkers that descended upon them pretty quickly upon crossing a bridge. Tara eventually returns to the spot where the pair were separated by the walkers only to find Heath's broken glasses and a key card with "PPP" written on it. Other than that, there is no sign of Heath.
Fans thought that this was the beginning of an overarching TWD mystery that would ultimately lead to Heath's return (or confirm who was behind the character's apparent disappearance). However, it was ultimately a plot device used to write Hawkins out of the show, as his career was taking off with bigger roles in major projects such as Kong: Skull Island and 24: Legacy.
It did, however, subtly further a major arc that was already slowly building on the show. The only issue is that mainstream audiences didn't fully catch on, leading many to think that the show just never followed up on it. And, while it's true that Heath's fate remains up in the air, it has since been revealed what happened to the character on that bridge.
Angela Kang confirmed Heath's fate years later
The Walking Dead veteran Angela Kang, who became the showrunner for the AMC series from season 9 onwards, confirmed what happened to Heath two years after "Swear" left his fate up in the air. On an episode of Talking Dead in 2018, it was revealed that RV Anne (a.k.a. Jadis) was seen driving in "What Comes After" - a.k.a. Rick Grimes' final episode - was indeed the RV that Heath drove during his final appearance on the show. And that seemingly confirmed that Heath faced a similar fate to Rick - being taken by Jadis and the Scavengers and traded to the Civic Republic Military. Therefore, he too was whisked away by the helicopter people who would ultimately become the BIG big bad of the TWD Universe.
Kang confirmed that this was the case in an interview with Business Insider shortly after this, saying:
"That was kind of the intention that we had in the back of our heads this whole time... Even back in that season where you know we had to write the wonderful Corey Hawkins out because he had huge opportunities in the feature film world... those seeds were already set there."
The CRM became an overarching presence of the TWD Universe, making their presence felt sporadically in the final few seasons of The Walking Dead, dominating spinoff World Beyond while also appearing briefly in Fear The Walking Dead and serving as the primary villains of the Rick and Michonne-led The Ones Who Live.
The villainous organization claimed it was helping build the world back up to what it could be, but it was also ruthless, killing anyone it considered a threat to its own communities or for simply learning about their existence. And that's what makes Heath's fate so disconcerting, because his story isn't guaranteed to have played out like Rick's.
The CRM had two categories for its people: A or B. While The Walking Dead showed Jadis telling the organization that Rick was a B (and The Ones Who Live showed us what the life of a B entailed), it was World Beyond which confirmed what an A was. It turns out that the As were test subjects in the Civic Republic Research Facility, meaning that Heath could have been tormeted by cruel experiments if he was deemed to be an A. That said, it's more likely that he was chosen to be a B, because like Rick he was strong and capable of helping build their movement.
Unfortunately, the full extent of what happens to Heath is never revealed as he doesn't appear on-screen again. Although Chief Creative Officer of The Walking Dead Universe Scott M. Gimple did claim that we would see the character again, Hawkins never made an appearances in CRM-centric spinoffs World Beyond or The Ones Who Live, and Rick never mentioned running into him during his time there.
Here's hoping that one day the franchise manages to tell us the whole story about what happened to Heath. After all that he has been through, finding his way back to Alexandria would be a fitting farewell for the character (and a neat way include Hawkins for a cameo appearance in a potential future spinoff). Book it, AMC!
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