In the previous season of ‘The Walking Dead,’ we saw things come to a close with quite a few major players on the series potentially plotting against Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes. With the fact that the actor is due to be leaving the series in the upcoming season it makes you nervous that his exit on the show might potentially be at the hands of one of his friends. At least one of the actors involved here wasn’t thrilled with how things turned out as Tom Payne feels that Jesus would not have followed the path everyone else in the scene was with what he had been advocating for all season.
According to Payne, “I wasn’t very happy about it if I’m honest.”
The actor first explains how he felt when the scene was being crafted:
“It kind of came out of the blue at the end of the season, as it did for everyone, and for me as well. I had a bit of a struggle with it, honestly. But I trust in the writers and what they’re trying to do.
And the thing about that is, we’re never really told in advance where the story is headed and or what’s gonna happen and how that will be resolved, et cetera et cetera, so I had to just say the words and hope that it was all going to work out well in the end.
As to having Jesus conspire with Maggie against Rick because of Negan? The actor feels that “the whole season he had been like, ‘No, we can’t do this, no we can’t'” and references trying not to kill the POWs in his reasoning.
On the flip side, there is a potential ulterior motive to the actions that Payne’s character is making. He might not support the plan but nodding his head to be able to stay on Maggie’s good side as:
“I think, in that moment, it’s more about placating Maggie and making sure that he still has her ear in that moment, and not wanting to be completely anti-whatever position she’s in. Because he doesn’t want to isolate himself, because he understands he still has some power of persuasion over her.
I think in that moment he’s not like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna absolutely go and kill Negan,’ he’s more, ‘Yeah we will, because I just want to make sure I’m still there with you, and maybe we can have a conversation about this later on.’”
In the upcoming season where we will see Rick Grimes no longer part of the show, it will be interesting to see if it is from Maggie’s rebellion, the introduction of The Whisperers who did take out some major characters in the comics when they first showed up, or something else entirely!
Do you agree with Tom Payne that how Jesus was acting in the season finale of ‘The Walking Dead’ was out of character? Could he have just been there to try and stay on Maggie’s good side and to help sway her decision down the road? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
‘The Walking Dead’ is returning to infect AMC with a ninth season on Sunday, October 7th, 2018, at 9 p.m.!
Source: Comic Book.
