Actor Tom Payne of "The Walking Dead" got very peculiar attention from female audiences with his sea-blue eyes and long, disheveled hair as character Jesus, but the star has just confirmed that his character is in fact a gay.
The original Walking Dead comic books, written by Robert Kirkman, feature Jesus as a homosexual in character, but the AMC television series has yet to confirm his sexuality since joining the cast as Paul "Jesus" Rovia in season six. He will become a regular for season seven series.
When Payne was asked by The Huffington Post if Jesus' sexuality could be portrayed on screen, the 33-year-old actor said: "I think that would be amazing."
Payne added: "Yes, who cares? He's a badass and he happens to be gay. I think that's one of the strongest things about Robert and how he writes the comic books. Why wouldn't he be? And I see no reason that would be different in the show." The actor - who rose to fame playing Brett Aspinall in the television drama Waterloo Road from January 2007 to March 2008 series - also shut down rumors that Chandler Riggs, 17, would be quitting his role as Carl Grimes in the series. He suggested that the teen will be "the future of the show".
He said: "I mean, he is the future of the comic books, I think. At the end of the day, I think Carl is the guy at the end on the last page. And I don't know if they'll go that way on the TV show, but I think it would be a logical place for them to go. Who knows?"
In related Walking Dead news, it has been revealed that mad ringleader Negan will survive the finale, per the actor who plays him, Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The villain has left a trail of blood and ruins since the end of season six, and his reign of terror is set to dominate for a while yet. Speaking of his double-sided character to US radio and TV host Howard Stern, he said: "I'll be around for season eight." He also dropped some hints for the rest of season seven, adding: "The next two episode, I'm really big in. I'm f**king heavy in those."
Despite leaving viewers significantly disturbed after smashing in Glenn and Abraham's heads with his spiky club named Lucille, he defended his character. He said: "If you put yourself in this apocalyptic zombie-fied world, I think anybody that's survived this long has probably done some bad things.
"They [Rick Grimes' group] killed 30 of my men while they slept. So far, I've tapped a couple of guys in the head with a baseball bat and suddenly it's the end of the world!" he added.
The Walking Dead airs on Sundays at 9/8c on AMC and on Mondays at 9pm on FOX.
