The Walking Dead is known for killing characters, but once and a while we get to see familiar faces brought back too!

The Walking Dead season 8, episode 2, “The Damned,” just brought back Morales from season 1! If that name doesn’t instantly rings some bells don’t feel bad. He’s way back from the beginning of the series when Rick gets united with his family in Atlanta.

Morales was initially introduces in season 1, episode 2, “Guts” along with his wife and kids. Morales (who goes by his last name) and his family left Atlanta during the outbreak and hooked up with the group of survivors that included Rick’s family. When Rick is saved by Glenn, Morales, and T-dog they bring him back to camp with them where he gets to see Carl and Lori.

Not much is learned about Morales during his time with the group in Atlanta, though he does help defend the group on several occasions and proves his ability to survive. However, when the group decides to head for the CDC Morales and his family do not go along. Instead they decide to head towards Birmingham in the hopes of finding more of their extended family. Even though Rick was disappointed that Morales and his family weren’t coming, he gave them supplies for their trip anyways.

Flash forward to season 8, and Rick runs into Morales in an unexpected place. Rick and Daryl spend most of the episode trying to find a weapon that Dwight gave them directions to. But when Rick actually gets there, it’s actually a baby named Grace. Presumably, this is a child that’s very important (maybe even Negan’s child) and thus could be used to get the Saviors to do what they want.

For obvious reasons, Rick can’t bring himself to do anything about the child. As he’s looking around more of the building someone steps up and points a gun right at Rick and remembers him. Rick does immediately recognize Morales, and confirms that it’s him from the group in Atlanta.

To this, Morales tells Rick, “Yeah well, that was a long time ago. It’s over, Rick. I called the Saviors back and they’re coming.” Morales cocks his gun at rick, but fans don’t get to see what happens next as the episode ends.

It’s pretty clear that Morales is now with the Saviors. If I had to guess, something happened to his family and he’s now on his own. Similar to what happened with Morgan, Morales may no longer care about morality without his family around. It’s probably also possible that he blames himself for what happened. But, maybe Rick can turn him around somehow? We’ll have to wait and see what happens.

It doesn’t seem like AMC was trying to keep this return a big secret since the actor who plays Morales, Juan Gabriel Pareja, has been tweeting about the show. But nonetheless it seems like fans are excited to see his return!

What do you want to see happen with Morales on ‘The Walking Dead’ season 8?