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Bro Way, Bro How: 'The Walking Dead' Shuts Down Daryl And Jesus Romance

Inbetween showrunner Scott M. Gimple splitting up couples with a wire-wrapped baseball bat, another budding partnership has also become a casualty in The Walking Dead season 7.

By Tom ChapmanPublished 6 years ago 2 min read
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'The Walking Dead' [Credit: AMC]

Some people just can't catch a break in the zombie apocalypse, can they? Inbetween showrunner Scott M. Gimple splitting up couples with a wire-wrapped baseball bat, another budding partnership has also become a casualty of Season 7. During the the Walker Stalker Cruise in the Bahamas, one audience member yelled out their support for a relationship between Norman Reedus's Daryl Dixon and Tom Payne's Jesus. In attendance at the panel were Reedus, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and SFX guru Greg Nicotero, with Nicotero quick to shoot down the Daryl and Jesus romance by saying:

"No! There cannot be enough exclamation points after that no."

Well, there goes the wedding invite then!

A Gay Ol' Time

'The Walking Dead' [Credit: AMC]

The show returns just in time for Valentine's Day as Season 7b kicks off on February 12, but it doesn't look like Daryl will be struck by Cupid's arrow just yet. Nicotero's response seems to imply that they have big plans for who could be the Mrs. (or Mr.) Dixon. It had previously been teased that the lone wolf Dixon would eventually find a partner and settle down, while it has been long rumored that Daryl may prefer the company of men. Fans of the show have always thought there was a spark between Daryl and Melissa McBride's Carol, but she seems to be moving closer to newcomer Ezekiel.

As for Jesus, although bosses haven't been as obvious to drape him in a rainbow flag, it seems that just like his comic book counterpart, Jesus is gay. Actor Tom Payne told The Huffington Post:

"Yeah, who cares? He's a badass and he happens to be gay...I think that's one of the strongest things about Robert [Kirkman] and how he writes the comic books. Why wouldn't he be? And I see no reason why that would be different in the show."

The show has been seen as progressive thanks to its gay characters like Aaron and Tara; however, Season 6 became embroiled in the "Bury Your Gays" scandal when it came under fire for killing off Merritt Wever's Dr. Denise Cloyd.

Love is in the air.

'The Walking Dead' [Credit: Image Comics]

As Payne says, what's the big deal anyway? Despite being relatively new to #AMC's world of ravenous #zombie walkers, Jesus has already moved into fan-favorite territory with his luscious L'Oréal hair and "come to the end of the world" eyes. While Daryl may be off the table, Jesus could find romance just on the horizon of the Alexandria Safe Zone with fellow survivor Aaron. Payne's comic book counterpart is seen consoling Aaron after his partner Eric is killed by the Saviors, and given the way that the show is going, many are expecting that Eric isn't long for this world on the show. However, even in the current issue of the comics, it is still up in the air whether the pair's relationship will go anywhere and, knowing creator #RobertKirkman, one of them will probably be killed off before they make it to the bedroom.

With so much death recently on the show, could Kirkman and co. spring another surprise romance on us? Fans were surprised to learn that Michonne and Rick had been shacking up behind our backs, but embraced a welcome departure from the #comicbook source material. Elsewhere we have seen Carl and Enid show their affections for each other, and there are hints that Eugene and Rosita could follow their comic paths by making it official. Although Daryl won't be finding solace in the muscley arms of Jesus, at least we can go back to shipping Caryl — that Carol and Daryl romance.

(Source: Huffington Post)

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About the Creator

Tom Chapman

Tom is a Manchester-based writer with square eyes and the love of a good pun. Raised on a diet of Jurassic Park, this ’90s boy has VHS flowing in his blood. No topic is too big for this freelancer by day, crime-fighting vigilante by night.

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