‘The Walking Dead’ Star Tom Payne Was Ready To Leave When His Character Was Killed Off

The Walking Dead star Tom Payne recently gave an interview where he made it clear that he was ready to move on from the series. Payne played Paul “Jesus” Rovia, one of the more beloved characters in the long-running series. When he met his end during the middle of the ninth season, fans were furious with the showrunners. It turns out, they at least, didn’t need to be angry for the actor as he was ready for his run to end.

Payne sat down for an interview with Comic Book where he talked about his feelings regarding Jesus.

“Ultimately it came down to just happiness in my job, and I was just like, ‘Well, I’ve done this for three years,’ and that was the longest I’ve ever done any acting job,” Payne told the website. “I had kind of done everything that I wanted to do on the show, and I didn’t really see the point in hanging around and just waiting for something to happen,” he added.

Payne went on to talk about the “fight stuff” he’s done on The Walking Dead. Jesus was a kind of peaceful warrior on the show and became a leader of the group because of his ability to dispatch zombies while caring a great deal for the living.

Payne added that he thought it was rather funny towards the end of his The Walking Dead run. He would hear from friends and acquaintances in the acting community who were desperate to get on the show. Meanwhile, he was just ready to be done.

Now, Payne really is done and has been for a little while. Jesus’ departure from the ongoing plotlines hasn’t slowed down The Walking Dead. On the flip side, the coronavirus outbreak has managed to put an end to the production of Season 10.

Showrunner Greg Nicoterro recently talked about how the outbreak stopped the show in its tracks. As The Inquisitr reported earlier this week, the plans for season 11 are slightly changed because the series hasn’t been able to finish season 10.

As for the future of Payne and a potential return to the series, it doesn’t appear the actor has any interest in making an appearance. The Walking Dead has found some ways to bring characters back that were killed off in previous seasons or episodes. With Payne talking about being relieved his character was killed off, him coming back doesn’t appear to be in the cards. The actor has since moved on to the serial killer thriller Prodigal Son since Jesus was killed off.