A Negan spinoff should be a sequel to The Walking Dead, says Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The eleventh and final season of AMC's drama of the zombie apocalypse is currently playing out and the sometimes villainous Negan once again finds himself at the center of the action.
Negan’s arc of course began way back in season 7 when he debuted as the show’s Biggest Bad of all. After his brutal murder of Glenn and Abraham using his barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat Lucille, Negan became a marked man in the eyes of Rick and especially Maggie. But in a twist Negan later developed a relationship with Carl that led to Rick not killing him when he had the chance. Negan then spent many long years wasting away in prison and when he was finally freed he seemed like somewhat of a changed man. Indeed he even entered into a scheme with Carol to take down Whisperers leader Alpha, an act that might have redeemed him in the eyes of some. But The Walking Dead season 11 has once again cast doubt on where Negan stands as it’s placed him in direct conflict with Maggie, setting up a tense dynamic between the two characters.
The Walking Dead is of course playing out its final season and naturally talk has turned to the possibility of a Negan spinoff. For his part, Negan actor Morgan would like any such spinoff to go forward in time and not look backward. Negan’s backstory was indeed touched upon earlier in 2021 during season 10’s extended run of episodes, when fans were shown what happened with his beloved wife Lucille. But Morgan says he thinks the backstory is covered now and it’s time to look to the future of Negan (via TVLine):
“I’ll be very honest with you, if I was to do more, I would like to move forward with the story and not backward. I loved what we showed [of his history] in ‘Here’s Negan,’ but now we’ve done a lot of that story. We could do a short series on how the Saviors came to be, which would be kind of interesting, but I’m more looking forward. We’ve shown these different sides of Negan over the past few years. Now I’d like to see, after this ends, what happens to him next. I find that possibility to be a lot more interesting than going back in time.”
The big question of course is whether Negan actually has a future beyond The Walking Dead season 11. The way things are going now, the show seems like it could be setting the character up for an act of self-sacrifice that redeems him once and for all. Negan of course had a chance to help Maggie in episode 1 but elected not to assist her, leading to her near-death at the hands of walkers. Maggie survived though and later confronted Negan, leading to even more tension between them. But in episode 3 Maggie and Negan were seen working together albeit reluctantly. That these two enemies could become true allies is definitely something that’s on the table, and it would make all the sense in the world for Negan at some point to sacrifice himself to save Maggie, hence sealing his redemption.
It remains to be seen where The Walking Dead goes with the relationship whose complex dynamic has become the show’s dramatic center. A lot of fans likely would be happy to see Maggie finally kill Negan once his usefulness to her runs out. That could happen, but a Negan redemption seems equally likely. Either scenario likely would lead to Negan’s death however, and obviously that would put an end to speculation about a possible non-prequel The Walking Dead Negan spinoff. Which might make Morgan less likely to sign on.
Source: TVLine
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