Fans who follow the comic books from which "The Walking Dead" TV series is adapted certainly know who the new character in the show is. In the latest episode titled "Them," Aaron — a rather prominent character who just popped out of the blue — introduced himself as a friend with good news to Maggie and Sasha.
The character, who is played by actor Ross Marquand, is portrayed in the comics as a recruiter for the Alexandria Safe Zone. He scouts for groups of survivors and determines if they are worthy to come to the safe zone after watching them for some time. Although the place has not been brought up upon his emergence, his appearance in the series strongly hints that Rick and the gang are bound for the walled-off community outside Washington D.C.
[Spoiler Alert!] Although Aaron, who is a good guy in the comics, brings hope to Rick and the others, it also marks another grave danger coming their way. Following the comic books, Negan, the brutal leader of a vicious group of survivors, is prowling outside the Alexandria Safe Zone. Negan brings with him a baseball bat wrapped with barb wire he named Lucille. Hinting more of his presence is Glenn finding a baseball bat outside Shirewilt Estates. So is Glenn's doom in the offing? Well, it looks like it. In the comics, Negan strikes the guy with Lucille, killing him. In short, Aaron's emergence brings good and bad news.
Marquand, who followed "The Walking Dead" series since its debut, asked for advice from show creator Scott Gimple on how to prime himself for the big role. The actor retold to Entertainment Weekly what went down during his phone call with the creator, and it was revealed that although Gimple required him to read the comics to dig up "great insights on who [Aaron] is," he also told Marquand that he should "make the character [his] own."
