This post contains spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 9, Episode 8, “Evolution.”[hhmc]
We knew the minute that Aaron and Jesus began helping an injured Eugene flee a suspicious horde of walkers that someone was going to end up dead, right? If only it had been Eugene.
On Sunday night, The Walking Dead instead killed off yet another character. While fighting through a horde of walkers, Jesus—a.k.a. Paul Rovia—got stabbed suddenly by a member of the undead who turned out to not be so dead after all. With this, it appears weve gotten official confirmation that the long-anticipated Whisperers story line has begun in earnest. (If you want more specifics on whats to come, feel free to indulge in some comics spoilers here.)
Before we go further, its perhaps advisable to note that Jesus might somehow pull off an unlikely feat of survival. After Glenns dumpster trick, its never wise to rule on a Walking Dead characrers death until theyre officially in the ground.
But by the end of Sundays installment, Jesus sure looked pretty dead. He and Aaron had apparently gotten close since the time jump, inspiring fans to wonder if a romance might blossom between the two of them. (It did in the comics.) Unfortunately, it appears that development was just a bluff to make Jesuss death more shocking.
Was the choice to kill Jesus really a surprise, though? TV series have long made a habit of unceremoniously offing their LGBTQ characters, enough that the act has become a trope with its own name: “bury your gays.” (The Walking Dead was accused of playing into this trope just a few seasons ago, when it suddenly axed poor Denise.) More broadly, even characters fans have loved for years have gotten lost in the shuffle in recent seasons of this show, their defining characteristics erased in favor of contrived motivations—if they show up on screen at all. And in killing Jesus, The Walking Dead has signaled that although its interested in rediscovering some fan favorites, others might not be so lucky.
In all fairness to newly installed Walking Dead maestro Angela Kang, she did inherit an unmitigated mess of a series. It is, perhaps, unfair to expect this season to fix all of the problems that have plagued this drama for years. But Jesuss death feels like deja vu for several reasons. Most strikingly, theres the way it unfolded: in a manner that recalled Glenn Rhees Season 6 fakeout death, which came shortly before he was actually killed just as fans expected he would be. The first storyline seemed to beintroduced—and dragged out over several episodes—only to make his eventual, widely predicted Death by Negan seem as though it came more out of left field. This time around, the show vaguely hinted at a romance between Aaron and Jesus only to kill one of them off just one week later—a similar fakeout, albeit less rage-inducing.
But the disappointment that will likely surround Jesuss death really stems from an older, deeper problem. The Walking Dead never quite figured out how to translate the character from the comics to the screen; once Jesus performed his initial duty by introducing Rick and the gang to the Hilltop, he retreated to the shows back burner. And while this show loves to use romances as a vehicle for character development, Jesus remained pretty much asexual until the somewhat forced moment when he came out late in Season 7. Aaron, the shows only other openly gay male character, was also mostly sidelined after introducing everyone else to Alexandria; although hes been with the show since Season 5, hes never felt fully integrated with the group either.
As perfunctory as it would have been for the show to hook up the only two openly gay men in its world, pairing Jesus and Aaron could have at least added some much needed depth to both characters. Instead, it seems, The Walking Dead has decided to cut its losses and give up on Jesus entirely—leaving Aaron, who already lost his longtime partner Eric just last season, to continue his search for a relevant plot line. (Hes got his adoptive daughter, Gracie, now, but shes been completely inconsequential so far—unlike the front-and-center, now pre-teen Judith.)
But Jesuss death doesnt feel quite as outrage-inducing as the controversial and untimely demise of Taras girlfriend, Denise, in Season 6. Really, its hard to feel much of anything about this death, besides disappointment. Jesus could have been a fascinating addition to this world—but instead, he consistently got short shrift within a bloated cast, in a series that lost sight of whatever its message used to be years ago. As The Walking Dead continues to rebuild, this death is a timely reminder of the rotten soil upon which its new foundation still lies.
More Great Stories from Vanity Fair
— Go deep inside the Academys popular-Oscar mess
— Comedy M.V.P. Jason Mantzoukas is taking center stage
— Patricia Arquettes getting the best roles of her life
— Fantastic Beasts: Examining the puzzle of Dumbledores sexual orientation
— Its O.K.—you can like Netflixs new artfully made Dogs series
Looking for more? Sign up for our daily Hollywood newsletter and never miss a story.
Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Laura BradleyLaura Bradley is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.
[contf] [contfnew] 
Vanity Fair
[contfnewc] [contfnewc]
