‘The Walking Dead’s Ross Marquand Says Not to Expect Another Aaron Romance Anytime Soon

Aaron isn't likely to find love again anytime soon on The Walking Dead, says star Ross Marquand.

"I feel like at this stage in the show and in the apocalypse, I don't know if finding love is a really critical thing at this point. I feel like we're all like, 'You know what? It's not working out for the lovers, maybe we just get through each day and eat our food and plant crops and maybe we make that our focus,'" Marquand said at Walker Stalker Con New Jersey.

"Because now you've got the Whisperers, you've got all these other things you've got to worry about. I don't think he's worried about finding love or other things."

Marquand added Aaron is focused instead on raising adopted daughter Gracie (Anabelle Holloway).

"He's already got baby Gracie, he's got to take care of her," Marquand said. "I feel like that's where he's putting all his unrequited love."

Some Walking Dead fans called for a romance between Aaron and close friend Jesus (Tom Payne) after the two were seen sparring in 907, "Stradivarius," borrowing a thread from Robert Kirkman's comic books where Aaron and Jesus are a couple.

While that particular relationship won't play out onscreen following Jesus' death at the hands of the Whisperers in the Season Nine mid-season finale, Payne is on record noting a romantic encounter between the two "probably" happened during the six-year time jump that followed the end of episode 905.

Showrunner Angela Kang, who has since had to defend the decision to kill off a character belonging to the LGBTQ community, said previously The Walking Dead was more interested in playing out the Aaron-Jesus dynamic as a platonic one.

"But even our actors didn't see [a relationship between Jesus and Aaron]. Tom Payne went and said in the press that he didn't feel these characters were justified to be together at this point in the show. The story we were telling on the show is there's a friendship and a kinship between them," Kang told THR.

"We didn't want to automatically hook these characters up. They have a shared philosophy. It's something we thought was an interesting story to tell.

"Friendships on this show are some of the deepest relationships we have. With these two characters, it's the direction we were going in: two people who were really trying to continue their roles as the recruiters and connectors of their communities. There was a relationship based in that, more than anything."