‘The Walking Dead’ Reveals Aaron’s New Prosthetic Arm

A new photo from The Walking Dead 906, “Who Are You Now?,” offers a look at the prosthetic arm sported by Aaron (Ross Marquand).

Aaron lost his left arm six years prior at a labor site during construction on the bridge meant to link Alexandria, Hilltop, Kingdom, Oceanside, and the Sanctuary. When a horde of walkers encroached on the site, spooked Savior Jed (Rhys Coiro) inadvertently caused a log to topple onto Aaron’s arm — crushing it completely.

The arm was swiftly amputated by Enid (Katelyn Nacon), who had studied under former emergency resident Siddiq (Avi Nash).

Aaron’s arm apparatus differs from the device worn by fellow amputee Merle Dixon (Michael Rooker), who wore a prosthetic boasting a knife attachment, and that of Rick Grimes of the comic books, who wore a clawed prosthetic after having his right hand forcibly amputated by the villainous Governor.

Marquand previously told ComicBook.com he loves “having the extra challenge” of portraying a character who loses a limb during the apocalypse.

“As a character, losing an arm is a significant one. It’s been interesting because I’ve been tying my arm up behind my back because I’ve been trying to get in the habit of not using it,” Marquand said.

“Not all the time, of course, but when I’m at home and when I can get away with using one hand, I just try to keep it immobile. It’s been great because you realize that the biggest thing that comes with that is, obviously the sadness of losing a limb, but also the frustration of it. There’s this immense frustration of not being able to do the things you do. I’ve talked to a few people who have lost limbs and that’s the thing that keeps coming back is just this frustration.”

Showrunner Angela Kang has since explained Aaron’s new resemblance to comic book Rick Grimes is a “funny coincidence,” telling Skybound the idea of Aaron losing a limb was conceived before Marquand was “at full bearded capacity.”

“I kind of knew what he looked like with a beard but I didn’t really think about it too hard because [Rick Grimes actor] Andy [Lincoln] was still growing his beard, and then I was like ‘huh, that’s interesting.’ It wasn’t like fully intentional, but it’s kind of like a fun parallel,” she said.

“The arm chop [of the comics] was a little bit of a nod of the thing that we never did with Rick, [and] it’s going to play out differently with Aaron.”

The Walking Dead 906 debuts Sunday at 9/8c on AMC.