The Walking Dead entered a new era in Season 7 with the introduction of Negan as the top dog in the zombie apocalypse. Rick has been thoroughly broken, and dissent within the ranks in Alexandria (along with Daryl's absence) has meant that Negan hasn't faced any major uprisings just yet. Unfortunately, the show hasn't told us much about how Negan became the way that he is, and certainly has not shared any of his weaknesses. According to showrunner Scott Gimple, some Negan backstory is in the works for the TV series. He had this to say about the past of Negan:
I do believe yes, it's in the future. You know, I'm always careful about this, [because] things can absolutely change. There's a loose plan in place I have.
We already knew that Negan was going to be around for a while, but we never necessarily knew whether or not we would get any more of Negan than the bat-swinging, speech-giving, rule-giving guy who currently has most of the region under his thumb. Scott Gimple's reveal that he plans to let us in on some of what makes Negan tick should be a cause for excitement for those of us who want background on the biggest and baddest The Walking Dead villain to date. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is of the opinion that Negan has always been a bully. Now, it sounds like we'll get to see just what happened to transform Negan from bully to baseball bat-wielding tyrant.
Scott Gimple does have a source he can use for Negan background info. Comic scribe Robert Kirkman has recently written a comic series called "Here's Negan" that is delving into the early days of the zombie apocalypse from Negan's point of view. The big question has beenwhether Gimple would use "Here's Negan" or whether he would go his own way for the show as he has done in the past. Gimple went on in his chat with Yahoo TV to say this:
I take that 'Here's Negan' story as the backstory. There's some aspects of it that will probably be cool [on the show]. It's some fairly far-flung stuff... in the future, you will see some stuff from that. Might need to get Damon Lindelof to do it. It might be rather Lost-ian, but we're talking a good while away.
Seven of the twelve issues of 'Here's Negan' have already been published, and readers have seen just what Negan was doing in civilian life before the world ended, how he got his hands on the baseball bat, and why he named it Lucille. Some of the particulars would undoubtedly need to be tweaked to air on AMC, but the scenes could make for some pretty great TV. Negan's backstory could be one of the stories that gets yanked straight from page to screen, as Gimple has done with some of Negan's most iconic comic moments.
It sounds like we'll have to wait a while before we get a taste of Negan's history. Luckily, there's enough going on in Season 7 with all the different settlements that there should be plenty of story without giving Negan any flashbacks or speeches about his past. Tune in to AMC at 9 p.m. ET on Sundays to catch new episodes of The Walking Dead.
