Ross Marquand Nearly Quit Acting Before The Walking Dead Role

The Walking Dead star Ross Marquand won the role of Aaron when he was ready to give up acting at the "lowest part" in his life. Since joining the zombie drama in its fifth season, where Marquand's Alexandria recruiter Aaron introduced Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his pack of survivors to the walled-off community they now call home, Marquand's Aaron has emerged as the show's most prominent openly gay character. For Marquand, the ability to represent the LGBTQ community on a show as big as The Walking Dead, and the subsequent reception to the character, is "honestly the most amazing part about playing the part."

"I got this part when I was extremely broke. Five years ago I had $100,000 in debt, I was about to give up and move back to New York to pursue photography and writing, and I got this part at the lowest part in my life," Marquand said at Walker Stalker Con Atlanta. "I never thought that working on a genre TV show like The Walking Dead, a horror show, would have this much of an impact."

Marquand continued, "And it's not just Aaron — I think a lot of these characters, every character people can relate to. But I think it's wonderful that this character has helped people. I've talked to numerous people all over the world, helped them come out to their families and have these difficult conversations, and it's the most amazing feeling I've ever had. It's the best."

Over its near ten-year run, The Walking Dead has been both praised and criticized for its use of gay characters. Beyond the Season 9 addition of lesbian couple Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) and Magna (Nadia Hilker), past gay characters include Tara (Alanna Masterson), Jesus (Tom Payne), Alisha (Juliana Harkavy), Denise (Merritt Wever) and Eric (Jordan Woods-Robinson).

Season 9 faced criticisms when Tara was among the ten victims slain in the penultimate episode of the season, months after Jesus was murdered by the Whisperers in the mid-season finale.

When responding to accusations TWD was guilty of participating in the "bury your gays" trope with two of its major deaths last season, showrunner Angela Kang said the deaths of those two characters — who each served as leader of the Hilltop community, a key player in the war against the Whisperers — were consequences of the story.

"We have a lot of wonderful diversity and representation on the show, and that's something we're very proud of," Kang previously told The Hollywood Reporter. "For a show that deals with issues of life and death and people who have heroic and surprising ends, it's hard because almost anyone you kill on our show or write out is going to be part of some underrepresented group on TV. I wish all of TV would step up as well. We just tend to get a lot of attention for it."

She continued, "We still have multiple series regulars who are LGBTQ characters. It's hard, because we love representation. It's important to us, both in front of and behind the camera. We can't carry the entire load of representation for all of entertainment. We have to be able to tell our stories as well. It's part of the story, that everyone's impacted by these characters."

Aaron is among the characters who will enjoy a larger role in Season 10.

New episodes of The Walking Dead Season 10 premiere Sundays at 9/8c on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.