The Walking Dead teased a potential kiss between Eugene (Josh McDermitt) and Rosita (Christian Serratos) in its first Season 10B trailer, but a romance might have been foreshadowed before Season 10. In Season 9 Episode 5, “What Comes After,” Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is suffering from blood loss and hallucinates a sea of bodies in a scene paying homage to a variant cover belonging to issue #100 of the Walking Dead comic book. Among the endless heap of bodies are the corpses of Rick’s loved ones, including Michonne (Danai Gurira), Daryl (Norman Reedus), Carol (Melissa McBride) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan).
A closer look shows Rosita cradled against Eugene, his hand interlocked with hers. While the characters are longtime friends — they travelled with Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) before joining up with Rick and his band of survivors — Rick would have little reason to imagine Eugene and Rosita in a romantic position.
Because this scene was inspired by a comic book cover, the hand holding could be an Easter egg referencing Eugene and Rosita’s comic book romance. There the relationship ended in tragedy when a pregnant Rosita, carrying Siddiq’s baby, was among the victims abducted and then murdered by territorial Whisperer leader Alpha.
Or it was a hint at what’s to come.
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The show’s “love quadrangle” centered around Rosita was cut to a more traditional love triangle when Siddiq (Avi Nash), father of Rosita’s baby daughter Coco, was killed by a Whisperer spy. The death occurred after Rosita told a pining Eugene their relationship would “never” turn romantic, only in part because Rosita is involved with Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam).
This latest rejection spurred Eugene to take up temporary residency at the Hilltop colony, where he formed a connection with an unseen woman over the long-range radio he concocted using parts from a fallen Soviet satellite. This long-distance relationship might blossom into something deeper, but Eugene hasn’t stopped crushing on Rosita.
Eugene and Rosita’s potential kiss could be a fantasy or hallucination, but did Rosita dash all hopes for an actual “Eusita” romance earlier this season?
“Well, you never know,” showrunner Angela Kang told EW after Eugene’s heartbreak in episode 1003, “Ghosts.” “I mean, the story goes in directions that the story goes, but we felt like it had kind of organically gotten to that place, and he has been infatuated with her for so long, but like, man, how long can you keep that going if she’s just not interested? And in this episode where everybody is just at the brink of exhaustion and stress and everything, that felt like kind of like the right time to show side effects other than just all this stuff happening with the Whisperers. There’s always a personal aspect to all of that too.”
TWD Season 10 returns with new episodes Feb. 23 on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.
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