This was posted Monday, November 21, 2016 by Rodney Ho on the AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Tom Payne, who plays the hirsute Jesus at the Hilltop on "The Walking Dead," is British. Yup, just like seemingly half the cast.
Also, the reason the Saviors didn't find Maggie and Sasha is because they came to just take their 50 percent of food and provisions. They weren't seeking furniture and clothing (although Simon took Gregory's prized painting just to spite him.).
Jesus' ability to stay under the radar and get out of sticky situations will certainly be to his benefit when he goes over to the Saviors Sanctuary. "He recognizes he's more valuable to the group than Gregory," Payne said. "It serves him not to show all his cards to the Saviors."
There is not a lot of information about Jesus' back story except he's a bit of a loner. But he connects with Sasha and Maggie. He sees them as "reasonable with a bit of fight in them."
As an actor, Payne really enjoyed all the "ninja" moves he got to use to kill off the walkers this past episode. "It's really fun and brings a different energy," he said.
And as Josh McDermitt told me last week, Payne had to wear some heavy clothing in the middle of the Georgia summer. "I'm wearing 25 layers of all different sorts of material," Payne mused. "I have a vest over a shirt and a hat. It was really nice last night that I was just wearing a shirt and we were shooting mostly at night. It made it easier. I just take it as part of the character is he's always incredibly hot."
Payne said if the show follows the comics, we'll see a lot more of Jesus. "He's a favorite in the comic books for good reason. He's a pretty solid character and nice guy with all these cool skills. I'm looking forward to exploring more of him on the show."
ON TV
"The Walking Dead," 9 p.m. Sundays, AMC
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