The Walkg Dead’s first gay male character: What you need to know – SheKnows

Contents:

• FACT CHECK: IS ROSS MARQUAND GAY REAL LIFE?
• THE WALKG DEAD‘S FIRST GAY MALE CHARACTER: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
• THE WALKG DEAD’S FIRST GAY MAN: MEET AARON, A MYSTER NEW MEMBER OF ZOMBIEVILLEMAJOR TWISTAMC’S ZOMBIE DRAMA TRODUCED A MYSTER NEW CHARACTER ON SUNDAY. DO HIS ENTRANCE MEAN BAD TIM AHEAD FOR RICK’S FAY? [WARNG: TV AND IC SPOILERS AHEAD!]MELISSA LEONUPDATED JUL. 12, 2017 2:59PM EDT / PUBLISHED FEB. 15, 2015 10:00PM EST AMCTWO BELOVED WALKG DEAD CHARACTERS MET VLENT ATHS TWO NSECUTIVE EPISOS THIS SEASON, WH BETH TAKG A BULLET TO THE BRA THE MIDSEASON FALE AND TYREE GETTG B THE SHOW’S MIDSEASON RETURN. SO FOR THE SAKE OF 15 LN-PL VIEWERS’ LLECTIVE BLOOD PRSURE, SUNDAY’S EPISO “THEM” DIALED THGS BACK. WAY, WAY BACK.THE GROUP SEARCH FOR FOOD AND WATER. DARYL EATS A WORM. MAGGIE FALLY GETS A DAMN MUTE TO MOURN HER AD SISTER ONSCREEN AND SASHA GO ON A RAGE-FUELED, WALKER-KILLG RAMPAGE. FATHER GABRIEL NTU SWEATG HIS GUILTY CHRISTIAN HEART OUT AND, AT ONE POT, THE GROUP FDS SELF TRAPPED A BARN UNR SIEGE BY WAV OF THE UNAD—THOUGH GOOD OL’ DIVE TERVENTN SOLV THAT PROBLEM WHEN A MONSTER STORM RIPS THROUGH EVERY ZOMBIE (AND HALF THE TRE NEARBY), MIRACULOLY MISSG THE BARN.IT’S ALL LOOKG PRETTY HUMDM WHEN, THE FAL MUTE OR TWO OF THE EPISO, A NEW FACE POPS UP: AARON, A CHARACTER STRAIGHT OUT OF ROBERT KIRKMAN’S WALKG DEAD ICS AND THE BT SIGN YET THAT THE ALEXANDRIA SAFE-ZONE, THE SHOW’S MOST ANTICIPATED STORY LOTN, IS ON THE IMMEDIATE HORIZON. REJOICE!AARON SHOWS UP THE AFTERMATH OF THE VASTATG STORM LIKE SOME KD OF WIZARD, LOOKG WELL-FED, DRY, AND EXPLIBLY CHIPPER. HE MUMBL SOMETHG ABOUT “STRANGER DANGER” BUT ASSUR MAGGIE AND SASHA—BOTH STANDG READY TO SHOOT HIS BRAS OUT—THAT HE AS A IEND WH “GOOD NEWS.” HE ASKS TO SPEAK TO RICK, WHOM HE (ALARMGLY!) KNOWS BY NAME. AND MAGGIE’S MIC BOX, WHICH HAD STOPPED WORKG AGA, STRIK UP A TUNE ONCE AARON STOPS TALKG. DPE THE CREEPY, ETHAN-OM-LOST-TYPE VIB, HOWEVER, AARON IS ACTUALLY A GOOD GUY—AT LEAST AS FAR AS KIRKMAN’S WALKG DEAD ICS GO. IN THE SHOW’S SOURCE MATERIAL, AARON AND HIS PARTNER ERIC (AS A FEW HAVE POTED OUT, AARON WOULD BE THE SHOW’S FIRST GAY MALE CHARACTER) WERE RECERS FOR THE ALEXANDRIA SAFE-ZONE, A WALLED-OFF MUNY THAT OUR SURVIVORS HAVE LLED HOME FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW. HE SUTS POTENTIAL NEW GROUPS OF SURVIVORS, WATCH THEM FOR SOME TIME, THEN V THEM BACK TO ALEXANDRIA IF HE EMS THEM WORTHY. THIS IS EXCG ENOUGH SELF, BUT AARON’S ARRIVAL IS ALSO REMR OF A DARKER TURN THE STORY ULD TAKE, ONE WHICH THE SHOW HTED AT HEAVILY THE LAST EPISO. (WALKG DEAD IC BOOK SPOILERS AHEAD!) RICK AND THE GROUP’S ARRIVAL AT THE ALEXANDRIA SAFE-ZONE ULD MEAN THAT NEGAN, THE SADISTIC LEAR OF A VLENT GROUP OF SURVIVORS LLED THE SAVRS, IS NOT FAR BEHD. WH NEGAN HIS WEAPON OF CHOICE, A BASEBALL BAT WRAPPED BARBED WIRE AFFECTNATELY NICKNAMED “LUCILLE.” IN ONE PARTICULARLY TRMATIC SCENE, NEGAN LUCILLE TO BASH GLENN’S HEAD, KILLG HIM ONT OF MAGGIE AND HIS IENDS.IN LAST WEEK’S EPISO, “WHAT HAPPENED AND WHAT’S GOG ON,” GLENN FOUND AND PICKED UP A BASEBALL BAT OUTSI A HOE NOAH’S OLD GATED MUNY, SHIREWILT ESTAT. WE UGHT BRIEF GLIMPS OF BLUE SPRAY-PATED SLOGANS THE BACKGROUND A FEW TIM, WHICH WARNED, “WOLV NOT FAR”—AN OMO SIGN NSIRG THE OBVLY HUMAN-ED VASTATN SHIREWILT, THE GAPG HOLE NOAH’S MOTHER’S HEAD, AND THE DISMEMBERED ZOMBI WH RVED “W”S ON THEIR FOREHEADS. OBSERVANT FANS ARE ALREADY WONRG: ARE THE “WOLV” THE TV SERI’ VERSN OF THE SAVRS? AND WHEN THEY EVABLY SHOW UP, IS GLENN DOOMED?OF URSE, THE HTS ULD ALL BE RED HERRGS SIGNED TO PIQUE IC REARS’ TERT. KIRKMAN HIMSELF TOSSED OUT “NEGAN KILLS GLENN” AS A “FAKE SPOILER” DURG A RECENT APPEARANCE ON COMEDY CENTRAL’S @MIDNIGHT, SO MAYBE GLENN IS SAFE AFTER ALL. (OR MAYBE KIRKMAN IS PLAYG OFF A TECHNILY, LIKE A NAME CHANGE FOR NEGAN, OR ANOTHER CHARACTER’S CRANIUM BEG CSHED GLENN’S PLACE.)IN OTHER NEWS, AARON’S ARRIVAL WAS THE SEND BIG MOMENT STRAIGHT OUT OF THE ICS “THEM.” EARLIER, RICK FALLY LIVERS THE INIC LE, “WE ARE THE WALKG AD,” AN EMOTNAL SPEECH ABOUT HIS GRANDFATHER, WHO FOUGHT AGAST THE GERMANS WORLD WAR II.“EVERY DAY HE WOKE UP, TOLD HIMSELF, ‘RT PEACE, NOW GET UP AND GO TO WAR,’” RICK EXPLAS TO HIS SOGGY, DOWNTRODN GROUP SI THE BARN. “THEN AFTER A FEW YEARS OF PRETENDG HE WAS AD, HE MA OUT ALIVE. THAT’S THE TRICK OF , I THK. WE DO WHAT WE NEED TO DO AND THEN WE GET TO LIVE. BUT NO MATTER WHAT WE FD D.C. I KNOW WE’LL BE OKAY. BEE THIS IS HOW WE SURVIVE. WE TELL OURSELV THAT WE ARE THE WALKG AD.”LET’S HOPE THAT DON’T TRANSLATE TO “AD MAN WALKG” FOR GLENN. MELISSA LEON
• THE WALKG DEAD STAR SAYS GAY ROMANCE BETWEEN AARON AND J HAPPENED OFFSCREEN
• WHY WALKG DEAD CANCELED PLANS FOR ITS FIRST GAY CHARACTER
• THE WALKG DEAD SOP: NEWER ROSS MARQUAND JOS CAST AS… PIVOTAL GAY COMIC CHARACTER?
• 'THE WALKG DEAD' JT CONFIRMED THAT J IS GAY

FACT CHECK: IS ROSS MARQUAND GAY REAL LIFE?

ClaimLike Aaron on the h show, Ross Marquand om The Walkg Dead is gay real life. But fans n’t help but wonr if Marquand is also gay. Read on for more about Marquand’s relatnship has that the actor who portrays one half of TWD‘s first gay uple is gay real life.

However, whether he is gay or straight, there is no nyg that Ross Marquand has a great sense of 2013, the actor tweeted that he is hangg out wh his “girliend” and that she was hilar. He was one of the first gay characters on the show, and his love tert was Eric Raleigh, played by Jordan Woods-Robson. Though the bullet went through him, we saw Aaron pull Eric by some tre to safety, and go back to he returns, he see’s a bloodied tree tnk, Eric’s rifle, and to his sorrow Eric, now a walker, wanrg away towards a nearby Ross Marquand Really Gay?

Aaron is a gay character om The Walkg Dead. After Robert Kirkman dropped hts on The Talkg Dead that the show would be troducg s first gay male character, fans have been wag for to happen and looks like fally has.

THE WALKG DEAD‘S FIRST GAY MALE CHARACTER: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

His name is Aaron and, if the ic books are anythg to go by, he is that gay character fans have been wag for.

In the show’s source material, Aaron and his partner Eric (as a few have poted out, Aaron would be the show’s first gay male character) were recers for the Alexandria Safe-Zone, a walled-off muny that our survivors have lled home for several years now. Before Aaron or Pl "J" Monroe me to the picture, The Walkg Dead was set to troduce s first gay character much earlier the story.

THE WALKG DEAD’S FIRST GAY MAN: MEET AARON, A MYSTER NEW MEMBER OF ZOMBIEVILLEMAJOR TWISTAMC’S ZOMBIE DRAMA TRODUCED A MYSTER NEW CHARACTER ON SUNDAY. DO HIS ENTRANCE MEAN BAD TIM AHEAD FOR RICK’S FAY? [WARNG: TV AND IC SPOILERS AHEAD!]MELISSA LEONUPDATED JUL. 12, 2017 2:59PM EDT / PUBLISHED FEB. 15, 2015 10:00PM EST AMCTWO BELOVED WALKG DEAD CHARACTERS MET VLENT ATHS TWO NSECUTIVE EPISOS THIS SEASON, WH BETH TAKG A BULLET TO THE BRA THE MIDSEASON FALE AND TYREE GETTG B THE SHOW’S MIDSEASON RETURN. SO FOR THE SAKE OF 15 LN-PL VIEWERS’ LLECTIVE BLOOD PRSURE, SUNDAY’S EPISO “THEM” DIALED THGS BACK. WAY, WAY BACK.THE GROUP SEARCH FOR FOOD AND WATER. DARYL EATS A WORM. MAGGIE FALLY GETS A DAMN MUTE TO MOURN HER AD SISTER ONSCREEN AND SASHA GO ON A RAGE-FUELED, WALKER-KILLG RAMPAGE. FATHER GABRIEL NTU SWEATG HIS GUILTY CHRISTIAN HEART OUT AND, AT ONE POT, THE GROUP FDS SELF TRAPPED A BARN UNR SIEGE BY WAV OF THE UNAD—THOUGH GOOD OL’ DIVE TERVENTN SOLV THAT PROBLEM WHEN A MONSTER STORM RIPS THROUGH EVERY ZOMBIE (AND HALF THE TRE NEARBY), MIRACULOLY MISSG THE BARN.IT’S ALL LOOKG PRETTY HUMDM WHEN, THE FAL MUTE OR TWO OF THE EPISO, A NEW FACE POPS UP: AARON, A CHARACTER STRAIGHT OUT OF ROBERT KIRKMAN’S WALKG DEAD ICS AND THE BT SIGN YET THAT THE ALEXANDRIA SAFE-ZONE, THE SHOW’S MOST ANTICIPATED STORY LOTN, IS ON THE IMMEDIATE HORIZON. REJOICE!AARON SHOWS UP THE AFTERMATH OF THE VASTATG STORM LIKE SOME KD OF WIZARD, LOOKG WELL-FED, DRY, AND EXPLIBLY CHIPPER. HE MUMBL SOMETHG ABOUT “STRANGER DANGER” BUT ASSUR MAGGIE AND SASHA—BOTH STANDG READY TO SHOOT HIS BRAS OUT—THAT HE AS A IEND WH “GOOD NEWS.” HE ASKS TO SPEAK TO RICK, WHOM HE (ALARMGLY!) KNOWS BY NAME. AND MAGGIE’S MIC BOX, WHICH HAD STOPPED WORKG AGA, STRIK UP A TUNE ONCE AARON STOPS TALKG. DPE THE CREEPY, ETHAN-OM-LOST-TYPE VIB, HOWEVER, AARON IS ACTUALLY A GOOD GUY—AT LEAST AS FAR AS KIRKMAN’S WALKG DEAD ICS GO. IN THE SHOW’S SOURCE MATERIAL, AARON AND HIS PARTNER ERIC (AS A FEW HAVE POTED OUT, AARON WOULD BE THE SHOW’S FIRST GAY MALE CHARACTER) WERE RECERS FOR THE ALEXANDRIA SAFE-ZONE, A WALLED-OFF MUNY THAT OUR SURVIVORS HAVE LLED HOME FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW. HE SUTS POTENTIAL NEW GROUPS OF SURVIVORS, WATCH THEM FOR SOME TIME, THEN V THEM BACK TO ALEXANDRIA IF HE EMS THEM WORTHY. THIS IS EXCG ENOUGH SELF, BUT AARON’S ARRIVAL IS ALSO REMR OF A DARKER TURN THE STORY ULD TAKE, ONE WHICH THE SHOW HTED AT HEAVILY THE LAST EPISO. (WALKG DEAD IC BOOK SPOILERS AHEAD!) RICK AND THE GROUP’S ARRIVAL AT THE ALEXANDRIA SAFE-ZONE ULD MEAN THAT NEGAN, THE SADISTIC LEAR OF A VLENT GROUP OF SURVIVORS LLED THE SAVRS, IS NOT FAR BEHD. WH NEGAN HIS WEAPON OF CHOICE, A BASEBALL BAT WRAPPED BARBED WIRE AFFECTNATELY NICKNAMED “LUCILLE.” IN ONE PARTICULARLY TRMATIC SCENE, NEGAN LUCILLE TO BASH GLENN’S HEAD, KILLG HIM ONT OF MAGGIE AND HIS IENDS.IN LAST WEEK’S EPISO, “WHAT HAPPENED AND WHAT’S GOG ON,” GLENN FOUND AND PICKED UP A BASEBALL BAT OUTSI A HOE NOAH’S OLD GATED MUNY, SHIREWILT ESTAT. WE UGHT BRIEF GLIMPS OF BLUE SPRAY-PATED SLOGANS THE BACKGROUND A FEW TIM, WHICH WARNED, “WOLV NOT FAR”—AN OMO SIGN NSIRG THE OBVLY HUMAN-ED VASTATN SHIREWILT, THE GAPG HOLE NOAH’S MOTHER’S HEAD, AND THE DISMEMBERED ZOMBI WH RVED “W”S ON THEIR FOREHEADS. OBSERVANT FANS ARE ALREADY WONRG: ARE THE “WOLV” THE TV SERI’ VERSN OF THE SAVRS? AND WHEN THEY EVABLY SHOW UP, IS GLENN DOOMED?OF URSE, THE HTS ULD ALL BE RED HERRGS SIGNED TO PIQUE IC REARS’ TERT. KIRKMAN HIMSELF TOSSED OUT “NEGAN KILLS GLENN” AS A “FAKE SPOILER” DURG A RECENT APPEARANCE ON COMEDY CENTRAL’S @MIDNIGHT, SO MAYBE GLENN IS SAFE AFTER ALL. (OR MAYBE KIRKMAN IS PLAYG OFF A TECHNILY, LIKE A NAME CHANGE FOR NEGAN, OR ANOTHER CHARACTER’S CRANIUM BEG CSHED GLENN’S PLACE.)IN OTHER NEWS, AARON’S ARRIVAL WAS THE SEND BIG MOMENT STRAIGHT OUT OF THE ICS “THEM.” EARLIER, RICK FALLY LIVERS THE INIC LE, “WE ARE THE WALKG AD,” AN EMOTNAL SPEECH ABOUT HIS GRANDFATHER, WHO FOUGHT AGAST THE GERMANS WORLD WAR II.“EVERY DAY HE WOKE UP, TOLD HIMSELF, ‘RT PEACE, NOW GET UP AND GO TO WAR,’” RICK EXPLAS TO HIS SOGGY, DOWNTRODN GROUP SI THE BARN. “THEN AFTER A FEW YEARS OF PRETENDG HE WAS AD, HE MA OUT ALIVE. THAT’S THE TRICK OF , I THK. WE DO WHAT WE NEED TO DO AND THEN WE GET TO LIVE. BUT NO MATTER WHAT WE FD D.C. I KNOW WE’LL BE OKAY. BEE THIS IS HOW WE SURVIVE. WE TELL OURSELV THAT WE ARE THE WALKG AD.”LET’S HOPE THAT DON’T TRANSLATE TO “AD MAN WALKG” FOR GLENN. MELISSA LEON

The seri never strayed away om s diversy, gog on to troduce several gay survivors who would quickly go on to bee fan favor, but seri -creator and wrer Robert Kirkman planned an earlier troductn for the seri' leap to diverse new characters. The first openly gay character troduced wh The Walkg Dead ic seri is Aaron, an experienced recer for Virgia's Alexandria Safe Zone muny.

It's nearly two years later when the ic troduc yet another major gay character Pl "J" Monroe. The letters pag of The Walkg Dead Deluxe #50 reveal exactly who Kirkman tend to have as the seri' first major gay survivor, and 's none other than The Governor's former litenant, Martez.

In discsg his cisn to scrap the reveal that Martez was gay, Kirkman mented, "I remembered that I was planng to have Rick beat him to ath—then I thought, probably not the bt thg to do wh your first proment gay character. The Walkg Dead Was Wise To Change Its First Openly Gay Character. Martez beg troduced as the first openly gay character, only to have himself beaten by Rick a few issu later would have drastilly taken away the momentum that Kirkman had planned wh the reveal.

THE WALKG DEAD STAR SAYS GAY ROMANCE BETWEEN AARON AND J HAPPENED OFFSCREEN

Future gay characters like Pl Monroe are not only pable of handg themselv but n be tsted nfidant and close iends to Rick throughout the remar of the seri.

It's poetic that two of the seri' most fan-favore and perseverg gay characters, Pl and Aaron, would end the seri as lovers. I hope they do add GAY people jt so people like you don’t spoil my favore show.

WHY WALKG DEAD CANCELED PLANS FOR ITS FIRST GAY CHARACTER

I’m sure gay people everywhere love that you ed ps, jt se the ignorance of your ment didn’t stand out. Do the zombi have some gay-smellg-radar that I don’t know about? Why do so many shows have a gay or lbian plot to ?

Bee this world, PEOPLE ARE GAY AND LESBIAN.

THE WALKG DEAD SOP: NEWER ROSS MARQUAND JOS CAST AS… PIVOTAL GAY COMIC CHARACTER?

Payne said last year that he saw no reason why his on-screen J wouldn't be gay, as he is the ics, and tonight's episo "The Other Si, " he officially beme the show's third major gay character. Her girliend Denise (Merrt Wever) was ntroversially killed off what beme part of a troublg TV trend last year; an unwele rurgence of the "Bury Your Gays" trope which me to a head wh a profoundly ntroversial storyle on The CW's The 100.

But the fact that this is now a show wh three gay characters s ma st matters.

Given his stat as a badass fan favore, his signifint role the ics and the bonds he's veloped wh several of the show's ma characters, the now-openly-gay J has the potential to bee genuely inic a way Aaron and Tara are not.

'THE WALKG DEAD' JT CONFIRMED THAT J IS GAY

Gay characters on televisn are no longer unmon, but gay male hero on actn-led genre shows are, and the fact that The Walkg Dead has an unually bipartisan fan base wh a strong Republin ntgent mak s sexual diversy all the more charged.

"In my opn there should be more awome gay people fictn bee there are plenty of awome gay people real life, " Robert Kirkman, who created The Walkg Dead ics and is an EP on the show, said last year. Aaron tells him that this is first time ag that he has been his hoe whout Eric and jok that they were always the "last two gay men on Earth".