There are loads of new characters coming to The Walking Dead, along with a herd of more decrepit walkers, but that doesn’t mean the main group of survivors is being left behind. The Season 6 promos have been pretty heavy in pitting Rick and Morgan’s ideals against one another, but the characters’ connected pasts will definitely complicate things on that front.
Lennie James recently spoke a bit about what the Rick/Morgan dynamic is going to be in Season 6, and how it’s partially informed by each character being in the same headspace that the other was in previously. (Namely, Morgan is a calm and collected individual, while Rick is slowly losing his grip on his humanity.) But with these characters, it isn’t merely an issue of “right vs. wrong” or “us vs. them.” Here’s how James explained it.
One of the things that’s really important in the dynamic between Rick and Morgan is Rick is the last person on earth who knows who Morgan is. And despite Rick’s long relationship with the group and all the people there, Morgan is the guy who knew him at the beginning. So, they have a bond — whether they like it or not — and they have to figure that out and that’s kind of what happens through certainly the first part of season 6.
While we’ve seen characters on this show that were pretty much complete outsiders to everyone else, Morgan is the only one that’s been there from the very beginning, and the only person who hasn’t really interacted with anyone except for Rick. (Except for him meeting Daryl and Aaron in the Season 5 finale.) One would assume that having only one personal connection in the world would lead Morgan to doing whatever it takes to strengthen that bond, but if he’s indeed fully against most of what Rick stands for these days, then maybe he doesn’t mind risking everything in order to bring people to his side.
Rick’s point of view these days is basically “You’re either with me or against me,” without a lot of room in the middle of the road. He obviously has those who will be behind him for the long haul, including Carol and Carl, but I could see almost anybody else taking him to task. Not one-on-one or anything, but as a group.
Beyond his connection with Rick, it’s possible that Morgan isn’t even cut out for living in a large group, as he’s certainly not used to it. So he might not even last in Alexandria, and for reasons other than him squabbling with what is now his oldest friend. Here’s how he explained it to EW.
All the things that the group went through Morgan is kind of going through. On top of that, he doesn’t know whether or not he’s right for the place. It might be sensory overload for him and he’s been to the darkest corner of his psyche, and he’s fought his way out, and he’s not sure whether being amongst these people is a good thing or if it will force him back into the corner.
I can’t imagine that anyone would be such a dick to Morgan that he’d want to leave without some larger dynamic playing into it. But then it seemed like Abraham and Eugene would be tight forever, until that whole “Eugene lied about everything” got in the way.
Find out just how well Rick and Morgan will get along when The Walking Dead Season 6 premieres on AMC on Sunday, October 11.
