'The Walking Dead' Season 6 Cast News, Spoilers: Series May Lose Character To '24: Legacy'
It was recently announced that actor Corey Hawkins, who starred in last year's critically-acclaimed biographical drama "Straight Outta Compton," has been cast in the lead role in Fox's Jack Bauer-less reboot of "24," which is to be called "24: Legacy."
Hawkins also happens to be a cast member in the current season of AMC's popular zombie apocalypse series "The Walking Dead." In it, he plays the role of Heath, one of the residents of Alexandria. Heath, a major character in the "Walking Dead" comics, appears to have been hastily added to the television series, with Hawkins first appearing on-screen at the beginning of Season 6.
Though Heath hasn't had much of a chance to shine in the series, except perhaps in that episode with Glenn (Steven Yeun) and the dumpster, the character is expected to survive the upcoming war with the much-anticipated villain Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). In fact, in the comics, Heath is currently still alive. Thus, Hawkins' casting as the lead in "24: Legacy" may pose a possible conundrum.
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If Heath remains a background character in "The Walking Dead," Hawkins may be able to work on both shows at once. But should the actor have to leave "TWD" to focus on "24: Legacy," how will the show kill his character? As Forbes notes, Negan is expected to debut at some point in the back half of Season 6 and kill off a major player, so Heath, as a minor character, probably won't be meeting his end at the hands of the new villain. It thus remains to be seen how "TWD" showrunner Scott Gimple will mete out Heath's fate.
Or Hawkins may simply be replaced by another actor who could put on Heath's dreadlocks and glasses and allow the character to live on.
"The Walking Dead" Season 6 returns on Sunday, Feb. 14, on AMC.
