The last time we saw Paul “Jesus” Monroe on “The Walking Dead,” he was exiting a truck to avoid capture by the Saviors. Tom Payne, the actor who plays him, gave us some hints about where he might turn up on Sunday’s midseason finale.
“Right now, I’m not on top of the truck — which is the last place you saw me,” the British actor told TheWrap’s Stuart Brazell. “Unless I added very, very fast running to my résumé, I’m probably somewhere around the Sanctuary right now.”
Payne also said he’s open to seeing Jesus explore his homosexuality, given that the character is gay in the comic book series.
“That would be awesome,” he said. “If Jesus’ sexuality does come up in the show, I don’t think it will be in any kind of big, dramatic, ‘Oh, wow, this is how this person is in their private life’ way.”
Will Jesus have a run-in with the villainous Negan? Maybe.
“In the comic books there’s a great fight scene that happens between Jesus and Negan, and I think that would be really interesting to explore on the show,” Payne said.
At the start of the AMC hit’s seventh season, Payne was promoted to series regular. Jesus is a member of the Hilltop colony who has become fast friends with Rick and the gang. He is known to be a skilled fighter with wisdom beyond his years.
Although he appeared late in the comic book series, Jesus has been one of the major characters of the last several storylines.
Payne has previously starred in the feature film “The Physician” and the British series “Waterloo Road.” He has also appeared in HBO’s “Luck,” “The Inheritance,” and “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.”
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