The Walking Dead: How Tom Payne Plans To Make Negan Look Stupid

In his introductory episode on AMC‘s The Walking Dead, Paul “Jesus” Rovia managed to embarrass two of the toughest good guys in the apocalypse when he busted out ninja skills to take out Rick and Daryl.

Now friends with the two Alexandria men, Jesus has plans to make the big bad villain in town look stupid if the actor behind the character has his way.

While on a panel aboard the Walker Stalker Cruise over the weekend, Jesus actor Tom Payne fielded questions from hundreds of fans at a poolside stage — one of which wanted to know which Jesus moment from the comics he was most looking forward to.

“Him making Negan look stupid,” Payne said, quickly. “There is an awesome fight scene in the comic books where Negan’s like ‘Why haven’t I killed you yet?’ and I’m like ‘Because you’re soldiers suck!’ He’s like ducking under the bat and it’s really cool.”

Payne, however, is considerably smaller than Negan actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Morgan stands over six feet tall while Payne is likely half a foot shorter. The actor is aware and prepared, though.

“A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, Jeffrey [Dean Morgan]’s taller than Tom and I’m not sure,’” Payne admits. “A lot of my training is how he would fight somebody who is taller than him so we’ve worked hard on that.”

Before wrapping up the discussion, Payne pointed out that his Jesus character is quite good at killing zombie but when it’s a person, “that’s a whole different thing.”

Payne likely is not alone in his hope to see Jesus get a few good shots in on Negan. Fans of course cheered his response at the panel, likely representing the rest of the fanbase which hopes to see the comic book moment realized on television. The good news is The Walking Dead has been following its comic book source material written by Robert Kirkman more closely than ever before. Negan and Jesus are certainly in for a showdown if that keeps up!

MORE WALKING DEAD:

Andrew Lincoln’s Epic Reaction To Season 7 Finale / Violent Takes Were Removed From Midseason Finale / Best Moments of 2016 / Negan Featured in #162 Preview / Who Will Be The Next Major Death? / AMC Stock Takes Hit With TWD Ratings Drops / Spoilers: How Will Season 7 End? / Lennie James Confirms Major Betrayal / Cast Before And After Zombie Fame / Producer Says They Won’t Tone Down Violence

The Walking Dead returns for the rest of its seventh season on February 12 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. Fear the Walking Dead‘s third season does not yet have a premiere date but with The Walking Dead finale set for April 2, expectations for Fear‘s return are set for April 9. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.