The Walking Dead's three upcoming spinoff series will complete some of the franchise's biggest storylines, and the mystery surrounding Heath's sudden disappearance in season 7 could finally be resolved. Although The Walking Dead's flagship show is over the spinoffs will be an opportunity to answer some of the series' biggest unanswered questions, including how the zombie outbreak started and where the variant walkers came from. When it comes to survivors of the apocalypse, Rick Grimes and Michonne's series will finally reveal what Rick has been up to at the CRM, and the spinoffs are a great opportunity to also show what happened to Heath.
Although Heath seemingly vanished in The Walking Dead's seventh season, the most popular theory is that Jadis and the Scavengers traded him to the CRM. Keen-eyed viewers would have spotted Heath's van in the Scavengers junkyard following his disappearance, and showrunner Angela Kang has since confirmed that Heath was handed over to the Civic Republic. Since going missing, The Walking Dead has not revealed anything more about Heath's whereabouts or well-being, but the spinoff series gives the franchise the perfect chance to pick up with the AWOL survivor.
How Heath Could Return In The Walking Dead Franchise
Heath’s return is most likely to happen in Rick Grimes and Michonne’s Walking Dead spinoff. Jadis was behind the capture and trade of both Rick and Heath to the CRM, and even though the organization has outposts across the United States, it’s feasible the pair ended up in the same location. There are plenty of potential storylines for Heath, he could be a test subject for the CRM’s zombie experiments, get recruited into their army, or attempt to escape like Rick. But given the CRM-based spinoff will only be 6 episodes, and the focus will be Michonne saving Rick Grimes, it would be difficult to give Heath a meaningful storyline.
An alternate option to reintroduce Heath is having him appear in Daryl Dixon's show. The spinoff will take place in Paris, but it's currently unknown how Daryl will cross the Atlantic. Given the resources the CRM have and their growing importance in The Walking Dead universe, it's almost guaranteed that they will be involved in Daryl getting to Europe. If they were behind transporting Daryl to France, then it's not a huge leap to think the CRM has done it before with Heath. Having Heath join Daryl will bring a familiar face to the series that is largely made up of newcomers, and finally end the Heath mystery.
Why Heath Probably Won’t Return
While Heath's return would resolve one of The Walking Dead's biggest mysteries, it probably won't happen because of Corey Hawkins' other commitments. Hawkins played Heath for 2 seasons and left in 2016 to pursue bigger roles, which included Eric Carter in 24: Legacy. With filming already underway for The Walking Dead spinoffs, it's unlikely Heath will feature because of Hawkins’ other commitments, including reprising his Straight Outta Compton role as Dr. Dre for the upcoming Snoop Dogg biopic.
Still, it would be a shame if Heath's story didn't get closure. If Hawkins was able to find time in his schedule for a brief cameo appearance then having him fail to escape from the CRM and get killed by the organization for deserting would make for a thrilling flashback scene, and also demonstrate how valuable the CRM believe Rick Grimes is given they chose not to kill him in The Walking Dead finale. If Heath is included in The Walking Dead spinoffs then his return needs to carefully balance revealing what Heath has been up to since his disappearance with furthering the storyline for the show's main characters.