Why The Walking Dead's Negan Will Be Different From The Comics

the walking dead negan

Fans of The Walking Dead are finally reaching one of the most exciting moments of the year: the apocalyptic drama's fall premiere. TWD aired its cliffhanger-ridden finale way back in April, resulting in months and months of speculation and theorizing regarding the victim of Negan's barbed wire bat Lucille. Luckily for us, all will be revealed when The Walking Dead makes it violent return on October 23rd. And aside from finally getting answers, we're also going to get a much better feel for Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan, who will be a series regular in Season 7. Fans of the comic books have high expectations for this infamous villain, but now it appears that even the die hard readers will be surprised with the villain's adaptation for the small screen.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan recently sat down with Entertainment Weekly, where he detailed what to expect from Negan in The Walking Dead's seventh season. And it looks like the Watchmen and Grey's Anatomy actor is going to be making some exciting changes to the the comic book character:

If I just make this guy manic and kind of one dimensional then I don't have anywhere to go. So I thought, for me, and especially after doing that first episode, the introduction, and some head bashing, there had to be a place I could go. I try to make every scene a little bit of a rollercoaster so you don't know. So it'll keep you on your toes of where Negan is, and I only have so much I can go on working on the comic book.

Oh hell yeah. It looks like Negan is really going to be fleshed out this season on The Walking Dead, and it's sure to make the character an excellent villain and fan favorite as the story progresses.

Negan's characterization has been fairly one note for the majority of the Walking Dead comic books. He's a fantastic villain with the mouth of a sailor who inspire fear and hatred from Rick Grimes and his group of survivors. But Negan's backstory and personality has only recently begun to be fleshed out, as comics have given him his own origin series this year. It should be interesting to see if Jeffrey Dean Morgan's version of the character will retain the same backstory, or be another animal altogether. With The Saviors and The Sanctuary seeming to be a major focus in Season 7, we're probably to get a more detailed an nuanced version of the character than the comics gave us.

I'm personally eager to see all of the different communities explored in The Walking Dead. In addition to Alexandria, we'll be getting a closer look at The Hilltop, The Sanctuary, and the brand new Kingdom community led by Ezekiel.

The Walking Dead will return to AMC on October 23rd.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.