Actor Tom Payne says an early script to its season premiere of The Walking Dead season 9 gave Jesus a boyfriend. A fan-favorite character from the Walking Dead comic books, Jesus was finally introduced in year 6 with Payne at the role. Payne’s Jesus quickly became a favorite of fans of the TV series as well with his look and martial arts fighting style.
Regrettably, The Walking Dead’s writing staff never did locate a groove when it came to Jesus, who had a small interest to do after his memorable debut scene. The personality would make his departure in year 9, being killed in an experience with eventual main villains The Whisperers. Afterward, Payne would remark on his frustration with the way the show handled Jesus, and fans who wished a satisfying arc had been obtained by Jesus shared his complaints.
Talking to Skybound lately, Payne reflected on his time playing Jesus on The Walking Dead and disclosed a little information about where the character was likely to go before plans changed. According to Payne, an early script for its premiere episode of season 9 gave Jesus love attention ” There was an iteration of this very first episode of Season 9. I had a boyfriend at the initial script, at Hilltop,” Payne explained. He did not name a character who was supposed to be his boyfriend.
Obviously, fans always wanted Payne’s Jesus to hook up with Ross Marquand’s Aaron, but for whatever reason that the connection never materialized (in the comics Aaron and Jesus have a full-scale relationship and even team up to kill Beta). However, Payne did once state he believed an Aaron/Jesus romance on the show would be”lazy,” though he’d speculate in his Skybound interview that perhaps Jesus and Aaron had something throughout the six years that went by between seasons 8 and 9. In general, Payne says that he has no misgivings about his period on TWD and states he is just glad he got to get a fantastic entrance and a great exit (even though nothing of special note occurred for his character between these two episodes).
Indeed, Jesus is high on the list of Walking Dead characters who ultimately received unsatisfactory arcs during their period on the show. With so many characters to juggle week after week, of course, the series doesn’t have time to give a storyline to everyone. But even keeping this in mind, it appears a greater effort could’ve been forced to provide Jesus some much better scenes between his great introduction and unforgettable departure. As the revelations of Payne indicate, writers did at least consider letting Jesus have a love interest, but for whatever reason, the idea was scrapped. This news just leaves The Walking Dead fans to sense much more frustration about the way Jesus was wasted throughout his four seasons on the series.