(CBR) AMC is starting to ramp up toward “The Walking Dead's” season five premiere in October, and Entertainment Weekly has posted the first official look at one of the new faces that will show up during the course of the season: “The Wire” alum Seth Gilliam as Father Gabriel Stokes, a character who first appeared in “The Walking Dead” #61, and has been in the title since his first interaction with Rick and the group of survivors.
“I actually did not realize I was reading for the role of Father Gabriel during the casting process,” Gilliam told EW.com. “The sides were for a school guidance counselor named Michael, who had an issue with a couple of his students. I had not seen the show before I was cast on the show. So I just thought, Okay, I guess they”ve discovered some guy who”s holed up at a school or something like that and was carrying around this horrible exchange that he had with his students.”
In the comic, the survivors first encountered Gabriel Stokes following Dale's disappearance at the hands of the human Hunters. He joined the group and eventually ended up at the Alexandria Safe-Zone as the person to run the local church. However, no details were disclosed about what the character's role will be on the television series.
“The Walking Dead” returns to AMC this October.