Jesus made his entrance into the world of the zombie apocalypse back in Season 6 of The Walking Dead, and he's been pivotal to a lot of the action over the past year of the series. In addition to his skills as settlement intermediary, Jesus has brought some of the relatively rare laughs of the past couple of seasons, so he's been a pretty awesome addition to the group of survivors. Actor Thomas Payne recently shared his picks for Jesus' best scenes in the series so far, revealing this:
Either Norman chasing me around a field or when I'm sat around the table with the group and say "Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger" and then the credits start. That was super cool.
Thomas Payne shared his selections for Jesus' best scenes in a Reddit AMA, and I can't say that I disagree. Both scenes took place shortly after his very first appearance on The Walking Dead, and both turned Jesus into a character unlike any other on the series. We've seen plenty of people come and go over the years, but none has had quite as unexpected first couple of episodes as Jesus.
Jesus - also known as Paul Rovia - made his debut in Episode 10 of Season 6 as a mysterious guy who turned up out of nowhere to rob Rick and Daryl (several times) and lead them on a merry chase through the countryside. In a scene that was surprisingly hilarious for an episode of The Walking Dead, Norman Reedus had to run after Thomas Payne in a field as Daryl tried to take down Jesus, who had yet again tried to rob them. He returned in Episode 11 to actually chat with Rick and Co. at Alexandria without attempting to steal from them, and he revealed to the Alexandrians that there were a number of settlements in the general area, and their rather limited world was going to expand in the very near future.
The chase sequence is pretty unforgettable due to the sheer ridiculousness of this not-particularly-imposing guy getting the better of zombie apocalypse alpha males Rick and Daryl, and the scene of Jesus preparing to welcome them to the larger world of settlements was a game-changer that completely altered the course of the series. Thomas Payne got a couple of huge scenes very early in his time on The Walking Dead, and he clearly knows how impactful they were in the grand scheme of things. After all, there were probably more fun and/or more engaging scenes for him to film over the past year or so, but perhaps none with as lasting significance as his two picks.
Jesus has been in the thick of action again in Season 7 as he helps to organize a resistance against Negan. He's also gotten some wonderful quiet moments, such as when he came out to Maggie in a recent episode. Hopefully we still have plenty more Jesus to look forward to in the rest of Season 7 and on. Tune in to AMC on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET for new episodes of The Walking Dead, and be sure to take a look at our midseason TV premiere schedule and our summer TV premiere guide.
