The Walking Dead’s Josh McDermitt Teases Eugene Getting His Comic Book Girlfriend

A lonely Eugene (Josh McDermitt) might establish a new connection in The Walking Dead Season 10, where the genius again tinkers with the long-range radio project he first put together in Season 9. After a months-long time jump separating Seasons 9 and 10, Eugene is co-parenting Baby Coco as one corner of the “love quadrangle” centered around new mother Rosita (Christian Serratos). Baby Coco is jointly raised with help from father Siddiq (Avi Nash) and Rosita’s current boyfriend, Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), leaving Eugene longing for a romantic development he soon realizes will never happen.

“I think Eugene’s in a lonely place. He’s certainly still vying for Rosita’s affection,” McDermitt told ET Live at New York Comic Con. “It doesn’t look like it’s gonna go his way, and so he’s really just in this place of yearning for a relationship, wishing that he could kind of settle down with someone. Seeing it happen all around him and feeling kind of left out, it’s sad.”

“But at the same time,” McDermitt teased, “I think he’s looking at using that radio to bridge the gap between the communities since there’s such a huge distance between the communities, so maybe he’ll find companionship elsewhere.”

In the comic books, where Eugene was boyfriend to a pregnant Rosita before she was murdered by the Whisperers, Eugene’s radio eventually brings him into contact with a radio operator and engineer named Stephanie. After Stephanie connects Eugene and the survivors with a sprawling new civilization called the Commonwealth, Eugene and Stephanie form a years-long relationship.

The unidentified female voice that made contact with the radio in the closing seconds of Season 9 could be Stephanie. “Hello? Hello? Calling out live on the open air. Is anybody out there?” the voice said to an empty room, just missing Ezekiel (Khary Payton). The dialogue, lifted nearly word-for-word from the comic, is another hint Eugene will eventually make contact with Stephanie.

“I don’t want to give too much away about that, but I will say we will get answers to that question within Season 10,” showrunner Angela Kang told ComicBook.com when asked about the season-ending tease. “It’s always interesting for us to introduce new people into our world, and the different ways they come in, so that will definitely be an important aspect of the story going forward.”

McDermitt previously acknowledged it would “take a lot” for Eugene to call off his mission to win Rosita’s heart.

“I think if this were pre-apocalypse, he was always girl-crazy, but he might not have ever thought, ‘Oh, I have an opportunity to settle down with someone and build a life with them,’” McDermitt said at Walker Stalker Con London earlier this year. “But what’s kind of crazy is all of a sudden he’s found himself in this position where he’s like, ‘I’m a different person than I was, and here’s someone that I love, and I would love to spend my time with them, but they don’t love me back in that way.’ And so it’s really hard for him.”

He continued: “And I think that, if he is gonna find someone else other than Rosita, it would take a lot — this is just my opinion, this isn’t canon — I think it would take a lot for him to move off Rosita.”

Another genius from an outside community just might do the trick.

The Walking Dead Season 10 premieres tonight at 9/8c on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.