With five episodes left in Season 6, The Walking Dead is currently expanding the borders of its central locations and bringing in a batch of new characters, most of which were first introduced in the comic books. But all eyes are out for the dreaded Negan, the epic villain set to make an appearance at some point before this season is over. And while we thought it would happen in the finale, showrunner Scott Gimple is fine with teasing fans by saying Negan could show up even earlier.
There have been articles pinpointing exactly when Negan shows up, and that’s a bit disappointing, because they may not be entirely true. There’s kind of a build up. But you might even see him next episode. Absolutely. Well, sort of. Well, definitely. Well, maybe. Maybe not. But possibly.
If one could only use a single word to describe Scott Gimple, it would be “comfortable with messing with fans.” Gimple doesn’t play by the normal rules, as evidenced by that whole Glenn situation, so why should we?
Anyway, there’s no reason to take playful jabs at Gimple when he’s offering up a future that might bring Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s foul-mouthed murderer to The Walking Dead sooner than we expected. For that, he should be commended and applauded, assuming Gimple isn’t just kidding or using “see him” to mean there’s a piece of wall graffiti that looks like Negan that shows up for a second in the background of a dark scene. I mean, I’d still cheer that, but I wouldn’t be necessarily happy.
Negan is definitely coming, especially now that we’re already inside of the Hilltop Colony where Gregory can get on our nerves. Some very bad things are on the horizon that might put some very important characters at risk of getting their heads bashed in. And Rick is the one who’s going to get that big deadly ball rolling, now that he’s told Jesus that Negan will be found and killed, since Rick’s initial attempt to quell something disastrous always ends up backfiring.
But while Negan’s more iconic moments likely won’t be seen until the finale and beyond, Gimple’s words to TheWrap have me thinking that maybe we’ll get to see a menacing shot or two of him in the next few episodes. Something that could have been filmed after those episodes had finished production, but still edited into them without any continuity errors. Or it might be like the episode where Daryl and Dwight’s crew were hiding from those other Saviors, and we only saw that one guy’s legs in blue jeans; maybe we’ll just see Negan’s leg, with his bat Lucille propped up next to it. There are almost too many ways in which these kinds of appearances could happen, so I’d better stop now before the end of the season passes and I’m still sitting here speculating.
Possibly with a side of Negan or possibly not, The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights on AMC.
