Morgan Jones returned to The Walking Dead in the season 5 premiere.
Rick and his group escape Terminus with the help of Carol, with the entire group save for Beth reuniting by the end of the episode.
Just before the credits, Rick takes charge of the group again and they walk back on the tracks away from Terminus.
As they pass one of the signs for Terminus, Rick puts “NO” above the word “sanctuary.”
After the credits, a figure with a mask and outfitted in a serious manner is seen at that same sign.
The man is revealed as Morgan when he removes his mask. He looks at the sign, and at a marking on the tree, then walks away.
James has only appeared in two episodes but has had a big impact in both of his appearances, first acquainting Rick with the new ways of the world following the zombie outbreak.
He was later seen in season 3’s “Clear” episode, nearly having gone crazy following the death of his son. He tried to kill Rick, Carl, and Michonne, but later let them go after he remembered Rick.
“Morgan looked pretty well put-together, he didn’t look so well put together last time,” said executive producer Scott Gimple in Talking Dead about the last scene.
“He was going to Terminus, he was following those signs ... and now it looks like he’s going toward someone else,”
Added executive producer Greg Nicotero, “He’s such a great character ... to see him in the first episode, in the pilot, it’s a compelling story and you want to see how he survives.”
“[He’s] possibly in better shape, but he’s on the road, he’s alone. You never know, we’ve got to see him interact with people. He could still be a loon. But yeah, he’s on their trail. Rick left him a map, so he knew roughly where Rick was, and it’s clear that he’s decided, ‘Hey, you know, living alone in this horrible town is not for me. Maybe I do need to reenter society. Maybe I do need to find these people,’” explained show creator Robert Kirkman to Entertainment Weekly.
“And I like to think he got to that prison and was like, ‘Wait, what’s going on? Like, everyone’s gone now?’
“So yeah, he’s actually on their trail, and the Terminus thing is helping him hopefully stay on that trail. And it’s certainly a question as to whether he‘ll meet up with them, or when he’ll meet up with them, but we’ve got a lot of big plans for the character of Morgan, so stay tuned.”
James said last year that he wanted to return if the show would have him back at some point.
“I’ve had nothing but a good time while I was there and ‘The Walking Dead’ family and Andrew Lincoln and everybody down there have been really good to me and good for me, so of course I'd go back,” he told Access Hollywood
“I have a lovely time there and [if] they keep writing me stuff that’s like [what] they’ve done in the past, then who would turn that down?”
“I am so determined to make that happen by hook or by crook,” he added to Larry King recently. “I can definitely say yes.”
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