The Walking Dead has said goodbye to many characters during its run. While fans are preparing to bid farewell to its lead, Season 9 has apparently snuck in the death of another long-running character. His distinction? He were the series' longest surviving extra, and he never spoke a word.
Like many characters before him, Bob Miller has been killed off the show. Played by Curtis Jackson, Bob had appeared in multiple consecutive seasons of the show. Bob first appeared in Season 5, and he was last seen in Season 8. Unlike many characters, whose lives ended under grizzly circumstances, Bob did what many could not. He made it to his golden years during a zombie apocalypse, and that is no small feat.
So, how do we even know this? Viewers did not miss a scene addressing Bob's departure, because, like Bob, the show remained quiet on the character's demise. Rather, it is Redditor FightTheDead118's discovery of Bob Miller's Wikia page that revealed his surprising fate. Without citing a source for the information, the page includes some "behind the scenes details" on the circumstances. Here is what it says:
Curtis Jackson was the only core Alexandria extra not brought back for filming in Season 9, despite his availability and other core extras being asked back for filming. Due to his old age and the multiple time skips in the storyline for Season 9, it was concluded amongst the cast and crew that an elderly character such as Bob Miller would have eventually passed away due to natural causes/old age, hence the actor not being asked to return for filming.
This is a bit of a strange decision, considering it does not sound like it was the actor's choice. From the sound of things, this decision came from the AMC drama. It was, apparently, The Walking Dead's time jump that served as the fatal blow for Bob. While Curtis Jackson may have been up for it, his character was aged off-screen, making Bob significantly older than he was before, and much more likely to have met his fate via natural causes. Therefore, this made Bob a victim of the time jump.
Still, it is hard to imagine anyone taking umbrage with him still being alive in Season 9. After all, the adage is that age is only a number. With this news, Bob Miller shares a lot in common with Game of Thrones' Aemon Targaryen. Unlike many of his fellow characters, whose deaths were untimely, Aemon outlasted many of them.
In a world punctuated by early demises, Bob (who can be seen above shielding his eyes from the sun) and Aemon endured beyond the life expectancy of their peers. Had the show explored it a little more in-depth, Bob would have been an interesting character to study. Despite his age, he did not let it keep him from surviving harrowing circumstances that had claimed the lives of younger people. There had to have been a deeper story to tell there.
It would be nice if a future episode of The Walking Dead were to mention or address Bob's fate. The show does not appear to have done so at this point, so the zombie drama could reverse course and give Bob a little post-mortem tribute. As we all know, unless it is discussed on-screen, it is not technically canon. Stay tuned to find out if the show ever addresses what became of Bob as new episodes of The Walking Dead air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. The zombie drama has joined a slew of other series returning this fall, so be sure to stick with CinemaBlend to stay up to date.
