The Walking Dead’s Tom Payne Thinks An Aaron And Jesus Romance Would Have Been ‘Lazy’ – Looper

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published the night of the Season 9 midseason finale, in which his character dies, Tom Payne was asked if he’d reconsidered his stance on Jesus and Aaron developing a romantic relationship. “I liked that they had a friendship, but I felt like a further relationship wasn’t necessarily required,” Payne replied. “I thought it would have been a bit lazy: ‘Here are two gay characters. They should get together!'”

While Payne made a decent point about the sole two gay characters automatically starting a romantic relationship being lazy if not done well, the argument could be made that Jesus and Aaron did have chemistry. “But someone else asked me about the six-year time jump [that followed Lincoln’s departure], and I was like, ‘Maybe they did hook up once or twice in those six years!’ Maybe that contributed to their [friendship], but as you do, you just become friends afterward. I could see that happening,” Payne continued. “But a long-term [relationship]? I’m not sure about that. They have a lot in common, and they did connect in a few different ways. It was nice to have them chatting; their sensibilities were similar. They were quite natural friends.”

In arguing that the pair remain friends, Payne did sort of make an argument for why they could have ended up together as well. While he did make a fair point that the two openly gay characters immediately ending up together feels half-hearted, there’s also something to be said for two people finding love in a horrible situation.