00:00For Walking Dead fans, Sunday's mid-season finale ended with a massive shock.
00:09But if you aren't caught up on the show yet, warning, major, major spoilers ahead.
00:13So the latest episode of The Walking Dead came as a surprise to both fans of the show and the comics,
00:19as it ended with the death of the character Jesus, played by actor Tom Payne,
00:23a fan favorite figure who remains alive and well in the comics.
00:27Jesus' season 9 death comes at the hands of the Whisperers, the newest enemies in the AMC zombie universe.
00:33In the comics, on which the TV series is based, Jesus encounters the Whisperers multiple times and lives to tell the tale.
00:40This wasn't a normal bird. It's looking for me.
00:48Keep them together.
00:50In a candid conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Payne, who has been with the series since season 6,
00:56says he was happy to leave the show following years of frustration over the direction of his character.
01:02In Payne's mind, the character's final stand was much closer to his vision for Jesus all along,
01:06making it a note he's more than happy to go out on.
01:09He told THR,
01:10I know people will be disappointed and shocked, but I'm happy.
01:14He also said,
01:15When they came to me with the idea, I said, as long as it's a really cool moment, let's do it.
01:27And showrunner Angela Kang said of the moment,
01:29we knew something epic had to mark the real arrival of the Whisperers into the story.
01:34There's a character death that happens in the comic books when it happens,
01:37but we've often deviated from the comics and this was something we felt needed to be a surprise.
01:43But even beyond The Walking Dead, Jesus is one of the most iconic LGBTQ characters on genre TV.
01:49Kang said of the decision to kill him off the series,
01:51We have a lot of wonderful diversity and representation on the show and that's something we're very proud of.
01:57For a show that deals with issues of life and death and people who have heroic and surprising ends,
02:02it's hard because almost anyone you kill on our show or write out is going to be part of some underrepresented group on TV.
02:09I wish all of TV would step up as well.
02:11For the full interviews with Tom Payne and Angela Kang, go to THR.com slash walking dead.
02:16Until next time, for The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.
02:21We'll see you next time.
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