[Spoilers for The Walking Dead season nine midseason finale below.]
In a major departure from the comics, Jesus was killed during The Walking Dead‘s midseason finale. He was stabbed to death by one of the Whisperers, right as the show was teasing a potential romance between him and Aaron. In an exit interview, Tom Payne said he was “happy” to leave the show, as he was growing frustrated with how The Walking Dead was using (or not using) Jesus.
“You can’t help but feel a little bit despondent when you’re not released to do some cool stuff,” he said. “It was mutual and they knew I would be OK with it. It’s an amazing show and I was so honored to be a part of it, but at the same time, being the same character without anything fun to do is a bit frustrating.”
Showrunner Angela Kang, who has righted the ship after some rocky, Negan-heavy seasons, defended the decision to kill Jesus, telling The Hollywood Reporter that she wanted him to have a “hero’s death, and he did. He went out fighting, and could never have imagined what was coming. I know there will be fans who are upset, because they love Jesus. He’s certainly a fan favorite for many people. I think it was a worthy end, helping his fellow survivors.”
“We’re proud we had this wonderful character. He’s one of my favorite characters from the comic books as well. For our writers who are LGBTQ, it’s something that mattered to them as well. We have a lot of wonderful diversity and representation on the show, and that’s something we’re very proud of. For a show that deals with issues of life and death and people who have heroic and surprising ends, it’s hard because almost anyone you kill on our show or write out is going to be part of some underrepresented group on television. I wish all of television would step up as well. We just tend to get a lot of attention for it.” (Via)
Payne thought it was “unfair to the audience” to tease Jesus and Aaron’s relationship, only for one half of the would-be couple to die, but Kang explained that the “story we were telling on the show is there’s a friendship and a kinship between them. We didn’t want to automatically hook these characters up. They have a shared philosophy. It’s something we thought was an interesting story to tell. Friendships on this show are some of the deepest relationships we have.”
The Walking Dead will return in February 2019.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)