Ross Marquand’s Aaron has been through the proverbial wringer over the course of his tenure on The Walking Dead. Now that the show is in its final season, Aaron is being pushed to the limit, as evidenced by his terrifying nightmare at the start of the newest episode, “Out of the Ashes.”
Winter is Coming talked to Marquand about the episode. He opened up on Aaron’s PTSD, a scene cut from season 5 that would have complemented this episode, raising Grace, and fishing. Yes, fishing.
Exclusive: Ross Marquand talks about Aaron’s journey in the newest episode of The Walking Dead
Sarabeth Pollock: “I wanted to start with the nightmare sequence at the beginning of the episode. I feel like we never get a chance to dive into the psychological impact of the apocalypse and we started to do that with the COVID episodes and in ‘Out of the Ashes.’ I think it’s fascinating that Aaron’s nightmare wasn’t full of walkers so much as it was full of the villains of the TWD Universe.”
Ross Marquand: “I think it’s the PTSD of having just come off the battle with the Whisperers and, certainly there’s been wave after wave of threats to the last several seasons, you know, whether it’s the Wolves when we first come to Alexandria, and the Saviors and the Whisperers as well. And there’s just been so many threats in between as well, whether they’re walkers or humans. I think it’s important to know that there would be a psychological aspect of all these survivors and they’re going to have not only the survivor’s remorse, but they’re also going to have a lot of PTSD.
“I’m really glad we got to show that because in season five there was a nightmare dream sequence that I think Greg shot as well, where was imagining Eric in his living room. And they just had this strong discussion about whether or not they should go fight whatever threat it was. I think it was the Wolves back then. All of a sudden the wolf comes up behind and slits his throat and all of the blood shoots onto Aaron’s face.
“It got cut for time, unfortunately, but I always loved that sequence so much because I think it really got to the core of what was happening for a lot of those characters back then. And so I’m really glad the writers and Angela decided to put that scene in.”
SP: “I asked this question of Angel Theory and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. There’s this new group of villains, the Reapers, but right now Alexandria is out of food and people are starving. They don’t have the capacity to take on another threat right now with the threat of starvation out there.”
RM: “Yeah, if it’s not one thing it’s another for these survivors and they’re really getting it from all possible angles. And it’s like they’re shuffling threats every single day. To your point, food is the most important thing. So whether or not there are actual zombies or humans at their front door at the end of the day, the most important thing is, ‘Do you have nourishment?’ And that is why Aaron is so completely obsessed with going out and scavenging and finding new food sources because doesn’t want Alexandria to fall and he doesn’t want to see his daughter or any of the community starve any more than they already have.”
SP: “Could you talk a little bit about where Aaron is at the start of this episode compared to where he ends up at the end of the episode?”
RM: “He’s a man obsessed by one singular focus, which is just ensuring the safety and survival of his daughter and the entire community. He’s grown almost singular in his focus, and until that is fully resolved I think showing mercy or being the nice guy, the good guy he’s been in the past is kind of a secondary importance. The only thing that matters to him is making sure that everyone in his community he cares about is surviving.
“So that is where the real shift occurs from where we see him sort of sadistically torturing this Whisperer. And then at the end of the episode, Carol pulls him aside and says, ‘You know, this is a path that I’ve gone down many times and you don’t want to go there’, and she sort of pulls them off the edge. But we’ll see if he goes back to the edge at any point, you know?”
SP: “I think it’s so interesting that it’s Carol who tries to rein Aaron in.”
RM: “Yeah. because she suffered so much, too, and she’s dealing with her own PTSD from having lost her son to the Whisperers. We’ve all lost so many loved ones to the Whisperers or the Wolves, the Saviors. You name the threat and we’ve been through it.
“But I think we’re always kind of doing this dosie-do around each other, pulling each other back from the edge, you know, that’s one of the biggest things that the show has done in the last few seasons. We’re just constantly…one of us is going too far, and then there’s luckily someone else nearby who cares about us to say, ‘Hey, don’t go there. It’s a dark path you don’t want to go down.’”
SP: “I think it’s an interesting place to be given that when Rick was around and the mentality was that people can be saved even if they’ve done terrible things. They took in Saviors, for better or for worse, and it was a terrible mistake in some cases. So there’s precedent for taking in strays, but when they come to this group of Whisperers it’s interesting to see the reaction, that the immediate focus is that they’re a threat. It really feels like the possibility of saving people is gone now. It’s just done.”
RM: “Yeah, it does feel like that. And it’s sort of what we explored with the COVID episode, ‘One More’, with Father Gabriel and Robert Patrick’s character. I think there was this moment where Aarons really thought Mays was going to let them go when he’s loosening his restraints. And he was really happy to see this man who’s clearly broken about to turn a page and possibly go down a better route. And then Gabe comes up behind them and uses the mace arm to bash his head.
“So the idea of redemption and forgiveness and mercy is really, I think, the cornerstone of this last season. Can we move on? Can we be the good, forgiving, merciful people that we once were, or are we just going to adopt a sort of tribalistic mentality where if you’re not part of our group, we don’t want anything to do with you.”
SP: “And in this episode we not only see what the stress is doing to the adults, we see how it’s impacting the kids in Alexandria. We also really get a good look at Aaron’s relationship with Gracie.”
RM: “And I also think it speaks to how these kids are raised. It goes back to the episode ‘The Grove’, which is my favorite episode of the entire show, because you see these two little girls who have really known nothing other than the apocalypse. So for them, granted, they may on some level see these monsters as threats on another level. They’re just like, this is part of everyday life. This is something we’ve known all our lives. And so I think the calmness and the peace Gracie has speaks to being so used to this world that it doesn’t phase you, you know?”
SP: “Last question, and this is something that’s been on my mind for a while and I know I’m not alone. Obviously food is scarce. Carol killed a horse to feed everyone. But I’ve often wondered why no one is fishing. Hasn’t anyone considered going to Oceanside, or going fishing somewhere? Surely the Whisperers didn’t scare the fish away.”
RM: “We actually have a fishery in Alexandria. I think that’s what’s keeping us alive for all this time. We see it in certain moments, but it doesn’t make much of a meal. So I think that’s ultimately what’s keeping us alive, but I’m sure those resources are pretty scarce, too. But maybe walkers fell into the pond and it’s contaminated, who knows? But I agree, there’s plenty of fish to be found, they’re just pretty far away. I think that’s the biggest issue.”
I want to thank Ross Marquand for taking the time to chat about this week’s episode of The Walking Dead, “Out of the Ashes,” and for providing some insight into Alexandria’s fishing conundrum. This is something that has been on the minds of fans for a while.
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9:00 pm EST on AMC.
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