‘Walking Dead’ Season 4 Spoilers: Who Is Gareth? New Villain Promoted To Series Regular In Season 5

Evil has a new name on “The Walking Dead.” Rick and his crew of survivors may have defeated the Governor and Joe’s gang of marauder’s in Season 4, but the finale on Sunday teased that they're far from safe. The threat in the outside world is no longer the zombies but instead the false sanctuary, Terminus.

“Walking Dead” fans will remember that Rick, Carl, Michonne and Daryl finally managed to find Terminus at the end of the railroad tracks. The crew decided to be cautious about the “safe haven,” however. And, instead of casually strolling through the front entrance like Maggie and Glenn’s group, the survivors decided to go through a back entrance to get a first look at “them.” While everything appeared to be OK, Rick quickly discovered that wasn't the case.

Viewers met Terminus’ Mary behind the grill in episode 15, and in the Season 4 finale they came face-to-face with Gareth, who is believed to be the new big bad. But what do we know about the leader of Terminus? Since the character doesn’t appear in the “Walking Dead” comic books, fans are kind of left in the dark. We do know that he’ll be a major player when the AMC series returns for its fifth season in October.

Gareth’s Andrew J. West may have only appeared in one episode so far as a guest star, but according to the Hollywood Reporter, the actor will be a series regular in Season 5. The entertainment news site reported on his casting in late November and confirmed that while Gareth isn't a character in the comics, he will be a “remix of sorts of an unidentified character from the series.”

While Gareth has fans in a tizzy about the upcoming threats in Season 5, “Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman made it clear to TV Guide that the new character is “definitely not the villain of Season 5.”

“I don’t want anyone to get the impression that this is a Rick vs. Governor face-off,” Kirkman explained. “Gareth and the people of Terminus are going to be a very big threat. They’re definitely going to kick off Season 5 in a big way, but the Rick Grimes that we’ve left this season with is not going to be allowing a Governor-like figure to be such a thorn in their side moving forward.”

Kirkman hasn’t made it clear which character Gareth might be based on, but it’s easy to assume that he may be tied into the “The Hunters”/ Cannibals of the comics. In the graphic novels, a group called The Hunters turned to cannibalism shortly after the zombie apocalypse struck. Unable to find enough food to survive, the group eventually decided to eat their children, and later began to hunt loners and the weak. They eventually stumbled across Rick’s survivors, wreaking havoc by eating and mutilating Dale.

In the comics, the leader of The Hunters is a character named Chris. Like Gareth, his life pre-apocalypse is unknown, but his physical description of being in his mid-30s with black hair is similar to the new TV character.

But do we know for certain that the group at Terminus are cannibals? Fans had their theories before the season finale, but the episode didn’t come right out and confirm that the “Termites” were based on the cannibals in the comics; however, the finale was sprinkled with a couple of clues:

Suspicious Dialogue

The people at Terminus had a peculiar way of talking, almost like their dialogue with newcomers was rehearsed or came out of a manual. Two phrases, in particular, seemed to be repeated in some way by the sanctuary folks: “looks like you’ve been on the road for a good bit” and “we’ll make you a plate.”

The Boneyard

As Rick, Carl, Michonne and Daryl ran through the grounds at Terminus, the cameras flashed by a cage full of bones and organs. Could the bones and organs simply be from animals? Yes. But why leave it out in the open?

The Barbeque Pit

Throughout the past few episodes, viewers have seen how difficult it has been for the survivors to hunt food. Daryl nearly fought a man for a rabbit he tracked for hours, and Rick complained that the food they caught was barely enough to feed them all. So how is it that Mary is cooking a seamlessly endless supply of meat on the grill? And, how are they able to give out such big portions? A human would feed a lot more than a couple of squirrels or rabbits …

Season 4 of “The Walking Dead” ended with Rick, Carl, Michonne and Daryl being herded up like animals into a train car. Fortunately, all of Maggie and Glenn’s newly formed group were inside that same car, but fans were left wondering what the people of Terminus wanted with them.

What do you think Gareth’s intentions are? Do you believe he’s based on a Hunter character from “The Walking Dead” comics? Let us know your thoughts and theories in the comments section or send a tweet to @AmandaTVScoop.