The Walking Dead teases the arrival of complete badass Jesus in season 6

It's been a long mid-season break for fans of The Walking Dead, which finally returns to our TV screens next month. In addition to the debut of Jeffrey Dean Morgan's grisly villain Negan, one of the reasons why the second half of season 6 is so anticipated is the introduction of Paul 'Jesus' Monroe, a fan-favourite character who is a highly skilled badass in the comics.

British actor Tom Payne will be bringing Jesus to life on the show, and The Walking Dead creator and writer Robert Kirkman has been talking to Entertainment Weekly about what we can expect from his introduction: "Jesus is just such a fun character to write in the comics. At this point in the life of the series, my thought is the apocalypse has been going on for so long, the people you encounter in your day-to-day life have to be extremely skilled".

"They’ve been surviving for a reason, whether they were at a place like Alexandria that’s very safe, or they’re a great leader of their group and somewhat sadistic but in control of their group like Negan, or someone who’s an absolute, complete badass like Jesus", Kirkman continued. "He’s smart, quick, very athletic. He’s kinda been surviving on his feet. He’s going to be bringing a lot to the show. There’s some cool stuff coming with him". Sounds good to us!

There's no word yet on when we might get out first glimpse of the character, but with Negan's impending arrival it will be good to have another friendly face on the show.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC at 9 pm on February 14, 2016.

Images: AMC/Image Comics

Amon Warmann

Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.