Negan had one of the most iconic entrances in “The Walking Dead” franchise in season 6. Jeffrey Dean Morgan pulled no punches playing the bat-wielding villain. That character changed in the spinoff, “The Walking Dead: Dead City,” and Morgan, 60, was ready to quit the show.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan Wanted the Charismatic Negan Back on ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’
Morgan talked about his career on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. He explained that he was a fan of the comic books and was originally supposed to play Negan for two years. “The Walking Dead: Dead City” follows Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan. The characters hated each other because Negan killed her husband, Glenn (Steven Yeun).
The premise was interesting, but “The Boys” actor wasn’t happy with the change of his character. “I feel like last year we really got bogged down in season 2,” he said. “Negan, especially from my point of view, all I did was cry, and he’d lost his charisma and everything that made him Negan.” Morgan called Dan McDermott, who runs AMC, to quit.
“I said I can’t do it like this anymore,” Morgan explained. The executive responded by proposing a change in the characters’ trajectory. “There has to be more to it than she wants to kill me and I’m trying to make her not kill me and talk her out of it, and save her and save her son.” Morgan wanted his character’s charisma and intelligence back into the show, which he felt season 3 accomplished.
Lauren Cohan Says Season 4 Would Surprise Fans
GettySeason 3 of the New York City series shows Maggie striving to rebuild. Negan is less optimistic, but helps her with her goal by killing the living and the dead. The bloodthirsty Negan is familiar from the character’s start.
The characters continue to reckon with their past in the new city. Negan mentioned Rick Grimes’ (Andrew Lincoln) questions to new people about who they killed and why before accepting them. The morally grey character put his own violent spin on it, threatening to beat the people with his bat for their answers. This, and Negan working with Maggie, show he had more respect for his former enemies than he’d like to admit.
It’s unclear if the series will return for a fourth season. But Cohan, 44, sounded hopeful for the show’s future stories in an interview with People.
“We have a lot of ideas that are outside the box for another season,” the actor said. “If it can surprise Jeff and I, it will surprise the fans [when] you’ve done a show for 15 years, you’re like, ‘Oh, we’ve done everything.’ No, you haven’t,” she claimed.
She believes that as new sides of the characters are explored, new possibilities arise. Cohan has also expanded to directing episodes of the show.
“The Walking Dead: Dead City” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC.
