Paul Archuleta/FilmMagicThe Walking Dead has a new man. Relative newcomer Ross Marquand will join the AMC series in the second half of season five as a new series regular, according to various reports.
Details on his role are being kept under wraps—par for the course when it comes to The Walking Dead—but rumors and statements from comic series co-creator and show executive producer Robert Kirkman indicate Marquand could be playing Aaron, a gay character who also appears in the Image comic books.
He would be the show's first major gay character.
Marquand's other credits include voicing Han Solo in an episode of Phineas and Ferb, playing Paul Newman on Mad Men, voice work on Conan O'Brien's talk show, and several shorts and web series, including I Heart Vampires.
Speculation regarding Daryl Dixon's (Norman Reedus) sexuality exploded on the Internet after comments Kirkman made in the letters page of his comic book. They were furthered by Reedus who discussed playing the character as "prison gay" and by the show's executive producer and showrunner Scott Gimple who indicated a gay character would be coming to the series.
"We play Daryl Dixon as being somewhat asexual on the show. He's a very introverted character and I think that's some of his appeal," Kirkman said on Talking Dead. "I do have to clear something up, though: in the letter column of the comic book that I do, I mentioned that there was a possibility early on about making Daryl Dixon's character gay…It caused quite a hubbub online and I just wanted to clarify that the possibility is there and that I would have been fine with it, the network would have been fine with it, but we ultimately didn't do that. I can make it official: Daryl Dixon is straight."
The Hollywood Reporter and TVLine first reported Marquand's casting.
The Walking Dead returns with new episodes on Sunday, Feb. 8 at 9 p.m. on AMC.