The Walking Dead Postmortem: Which Fan-Favorite Character Returned?

[Warning: This story contains major spoilers from Sunday's episode of The Walking Dead. Read at your own risk!]

Finally!

That's what many Walking Deadfans likely said after Rick (Andrew Lincoln) unmasked the vicious gunman haunting his old hometown. Who was under the mask? Morgan (Lennie James), the fan-favorite comic book character who hasn't actually been seen since the series premiere.

The Walking Dead: Can Rick get his act together to save his group?

With the impending war drawing near, Rick decided to venture to his old small town with Carl (Chandler Riggs) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) in hopes of raiding the leftover weapons in the police station. But they soon learned that the entire town was booby-trapped like a game of Mouse Trap and the stash was empty. That's because Morgan, who had long since lost his son, Duane, had gone further off the deep end than Rick has this year.

Fortunately, the run-in with Morgan marks a turning point for Rick's questionable sanity. "Seeing that is like a mirror held up to him of where he could potentially go," Lincoln tells TVGuide.com. 

"He's, for Rick, the ghost of Christmas future. If he doesn't pull it together, that's the warning of what he could become," executive producer Gale Anne Hurd adds, noting that Rick hasn't quite hit rock bottom yet. "It's coming soon. It will be how his actions have affected someone he loves."

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With Rick and the group facing a war of epic proportions with The Governor (David Morrisey) and Woodbury, it seems likely that Morgan will eventually get his act together and venture to the prison to help. Though James is listed on IMDb for the Season 3 finale, executive producer Robert Kirkman is keeping mum on a possible return. "We love having Lennie James on this show," he says. "He's a tremendous actor. Every time he appears on this show, they end up being our best episodes. He's a really cool element to throw into the mix. If he were to show up in the finale, that would be pretty awesome in my book, so who knows?"

Are you excited that Morgan returned? Hit the comments!

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.