The Walking Dead Fans Are Pleasantly Surprised To See Luke Again In Season 11 Episode 22

The following contains spoilers for "The Walking Dead" Season 11, Episode 22 — "Faith."

The sprawling nature of "The Walking Dead" universe means that there are a lot of characters we meet and watch thrive or fall away over the course of the series. For every Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs), who we see grow from childhood through adolescence and into tragically briefly-lived young manhood, there are characters we know for a season or an episode, but who become a part of the mental landscape of the show's ever-expanding universe anyway.

So it's perhaps not surprising, as the show rages through its final two episodes, that we're getting to see some long-neglected characters during the back half of Season 11. One of these characters is Luke (Dan Fogler), who hasn't been seen since Season 10's "A Certain Doom." It turns out that he and Jules (Alex Sgambati) escaped the downfall of Oceanside and have been hiding in the woods dodging walkers for months. They were lucky enough to find the tribe of Oceanside refugees heading back into camp with supplies, saving them from a likely Commonwealth ambush. Fans can't get enough of the much-missed Luke, who they're glad is back on their screens.

Fans across the Twittersphere and on the "The Walking Dead" subreddit were quite excited to have Luke back onscreen — even though some of them thought he was already among the dead. "Luke's back after like close to two season's worth of episodes being gone," said u/pichusine, taking into account the way Season 11 was split in half by AMC. But in fact, he's been absent from the show for 27 episodes, or roughly a season and a half. 

For some fans, that's an awfully long time, so long that they believed Luke to be among the show's deceased alumni. "My first thought was "Wait, isn't he dead?" admitted u/TiffanyTwisted, who was definitely not alone in their opinion, as their reply scored 14 upvotes. Other fans were pleased as punch to see him once more, no matter how long it's been. "Luke is back!! I was wondering what happened to him," said @LauraBongiovan9. "A Luke sighting?! It's been what a dozen-plus episodes since we saw him?" agreed @bookangel224. But for some, absence just made their hearts ... very confused. "Yo. I forgot who he was lol," said u/JoeStorm. One senses that the series at large is set to give fans a whole plethora of reasons why Luke will ultimately be unforgettable to them, but at least, after months of speculation, we know what happened to him.