The Walking Dead reveals the first look at an eight-year-old Hershel Rhee in the all-new season 10 episodes airing on AMC in 2021, where Hershel returns alongside mom Maggie (Lauren Cohan). In the bonus episodes taking place in the aftermath of the Whisperer War, which left Maggie and Hershel's home at the Hilltop virtually destroyed, Maggie reunites with Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) before learning the truth about Negan's (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) release from jail. Negan killed Glenn (Steven Yeun), Maggie's husband and her son's father, but Carol unilaterally ended the ex-villain's life sentence when she sicced him on Alpha (Samantha Morton) earlier in season 10.
A first look at the aged-up Hershel arrives in the season 10 new episodes trailer released by AMC to commemorate wrapping a six-week shoot in Georgia, where a scaled-down TWD production filmed for the first time amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Hershel is seen in-between Daryl and his mother and sporting a similar-looking baseball cap to the hat worn by his father in seasons 1 and 2 of The Walking Dead.
This six-episode season marks the first time seeing Hershel since season 9 episode 4, "The Obliged," where he was about a year old (played by toddler Peyton Lockridge). The first child to play Hershel was now-showrunner Angela Kang's young son, who played the not-yet-born Hershel during a dream sequence in Glenn's death episode, "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be."
In September, AMC Networks
released a scene from the first episode of the season, "Home Sweet Home," picking up after Maggie reunites with the older Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming) in "A Certain Doom." In the scene, Maggie learns Carol released Negan before revealing what happened after she left with Hershel following the presumed death of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) in season 9 episode "What Comes After."
During The Walking Dead's panel at virtual Comic-Con over the summer, Morgan predicted Negan might bond with Hershel because the reformed bad guy "has a soft spot for the younger generation."
"I think he has a relationship with young kids that is very honest, and I don't think that he would shy away from letting this kid know who he is, and try to work through it," Morgan said. "I think that may be a way — we'll see, I'm not a writer on this show — but that may be a way that Maggie sees a different side of Negan, as well. I think initially she'll just want to kill him, but we'll see what happens."
The Walking Dead returns with new episodes on February 28, 2021, on AMC.