You want to know a character that I genuinely love the heck out of? Negan.
There are some great TV villains out there, from Gus Fring in Breaking Bad to Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones, but for the longest time, I’ve had my eye on Negan, who has become one of my favorite villain-turned-antiheroes on the iconic zombie series, The Walking Dead.
Played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Negan has become a staple character of The Walking Dead, and has become a huge fan favorite alongside the likes of Daryl Dixon and Rick Grimes. Today, in honor of the show coming to an end in the upcoming final part of Season 11, I’m going to be going over Negan’s biggest and best moments on The Walking Dead, from his first time popping up on our TV screens to now.
Negan’s Introduction (Season 6, “Last Day On Earth”)
No one can quite forget Negan’s introduction in The Walking Dead Season 6’s finale, “The Last Day on Earth.” The group that we’ve all come to know and love are all grouped up in a circle when this man, this legend emerges from an RV with Lucille along his back, with that damn smirk on his lips, asking the group if they’re pissing their pants yet.
That scene felt like it was plastered right out of the comics, and the moment we see Jeffrey Dean Morgan as this character, it was like a match made in heaven. I genuinely cannot imagine this character played by anyone else at this point because whenever Morgan is on screen, he is the perfect Negan. The sheer terror I feel from this scene even years later - brilliantly done.
When Negan Killed Spencer (Season 7, “Hearts Still Beating”)
Come on, you hated Spencer too. It’s hard not to.
But this is one of the moments in The Walking Dead, during Season 7’s “Hearts Still Beating,” where we see that Negan actually does have standards to an extent. When Spencer comes to Negan and says that Rick is a horrible leader and wants to take him down, Negan actually guts the kid for doing so behind Rick’s back and coming to him personally for it.
He wants people to be fighters and not cowards, and he saw Spencer as the ultimate coward - running to someone else to do his dirty work. Definitely a moment where we saw a part of Negan we hadn’t seen before.
Negan And Carl’s Interactions (Season 7, “Sing Me A Song”)
Negan and Carl were certainly a weird relationship on The Walking Dead - and even weirder in the comics. While Negan hated Rick, he admired his son, Carl, for the balls that the kid had to confront Negan all by himself in Season 7’s “Sing Me A Song” - so much so that Carl wanted to kill him. He even gives the kid a tour of the Savior base because he’s so impressed with him.
It’s such a great moment that shows that Negan actually does hold a measure of respect for people he deems deserve it, and he knew that Carl, despite who his father was, just wanted the best for his family and would do anything to accomplish it. Negan has done stuff like that himself - which is why he genuinely liked Carl. There are even some scenes that are directly from the comics that were perfectly adapted into the show.
When Negan Was Actually Devastated By Carl’s Death (Season 8, “Wrath”)
In the Season 8 finale, “Wrath,” the Savior War is finally coming to an end and Rick is trying to get the upper hand on Negan, and in this brawl, Rick tells Negan that there can somehow be a peaceful world for the both of them if he just hears him out for Carl’s sake. Negan’s guard falls down at this and Rick uses this opportunity to beat him, slicing his neck.
While he doesn't die because Rick orders his men to stitch him up, it’s telling to see Negan still at that moment. Carl’s death is literally the reason that Negan lost the war and ended up getting imprisoned. It’s a great moment and all the more important for his character development later on.
When Negan Saved Judith In The Blizzard (Season 9, “The Storm”)
At this point in Season 9 of The Walking Dead, we’ve seen Judith and Negan interact a few times from his jail cell down below, but it’s not until the Season 9 finale “The Storm,” where we see Negan put his life on the line to save the girl. When Judith goes out into a blizzard to save Dog (Daryl’s pet dog), she ends up getting lost.
Negan takes it upon himself to break out and save Judith from dying from the cold, bringing her back home to her family. We had already seen many cute moments between the two - like when Judith needed help with her homework and asked Negan - but this instance cemented that Negan does truly care for Judith and is willing to go the extra mile to save her.
Negan And Daryl Team Up Against Beta (Season 10, “A Certain Doom”)
There are plenty of badass Daryl moments, but how many badass Daryl and Negan moments are there together? This is one of them. In the Season 10 episode, “A Certain Doom,” Beta from the Whisperers has lured a huge horde to a hospital that the group is stationed out in.
Negan takes on a fight against Beta, trying to knock him down within the walkers covered in guts, and while he gets him distracted, Daryl plunges his knives into the eyes of Beta, successfully wounding him and his yell of pain luring the walkers to his flesh not that long after. I always love this scene because these two used to be literal mortal enemies. Daryl was kidnapped by Negan’s men in the Season 7 premiere, and yet here they are, working together.
It’s even cooler to watch knowing that Norman Reedus and Jeffrey Dean Morgan are buddies in real life.
Negan’s Backstory (Season 10, “Here’s Negan”)
I absolutely loved all of the Season 10 episodes, “Here’s Negan.” Learning about Negan’s backstory with Lucille, how he lost her, and how he became the man that he was, was some of the best hour of television I have seen in a long time - and I watch a lot of TV.
Not only was it essential in establishing who Negan is as a person and why he is the way that he is, but it adds so many more layers to his character than we thought possible. You just can’t like Negan and not like this episode.
And When He Gave Up Lucille (Season 10, “Here’s Negan”)
Obviously, for those who don’t know (why are you even here if you don’t), Negan’s iconic spiked bat is named after his wife, Lucille, who was sick with cancer before the turn and ended up killing herself later on. And in this finale, he digs up this bat, uses it in self-defense and burns the rest of the bat so he can finally be at peace.
This is such a significant moment for his character - especially with how he has been in Season 11 of The Walking Dead. He’s done being that version of himself and wants to push forward, regardless of what the cost is. He knows that people hate him - including Maggie, which we’ll talk about later - but he is okay with whatever comes next. That burning of Lucille was perfect, and much-needed for everything he does later on.
When Negan Is Disgusted By A Young Man Idolizing His Past Violence (Season 10, “What It Always Is”)
I mean, I would be disgusted too. In the Season 10 episode, “What it Always Is”, Negan has escaped from Alexandria but is found by Brandon, a man who idolizes him from when he was the leader of the Saviors, and kills a mother and son to impress Negan.
Understandably, and rightfully, Negan kills the kid for doing such a thing. He made quick work of the boy, and showed a huge part of his character - that he cares about the innocent and doesn’t just want to blindly kill people, at least not anymore.
When Negan Comforts Lydia After Her Mother’s Demise (Season 10, “The Tower”)
Alpha and Lydia’s relationship was always a little different in the show than in the comics, but something else that was different was Lydia’s relationship with Negan, of all people. Negan feels this sort of guardian-like relationship with the girl because he feels bad for what she has gone through, starting off with him literally saving her from getting beaten to death, and especially now, since he’s the one who killed her mother, he is there to comfort Lydia in the Season 10 episode, “The Tower.”
It’s a powerful scene, where Lydia is angry at him but he knows a part of it is because her mother is gone, even if her mother was abusive to her. Negan understands this pain too well and holds her until she stops crying, trying to comfort the teenager. It’s a moving scene that shows the two, despite their age differences and different lifestyles, understand each other.
When Negan Kills Alpha (Season 10, “Walk With Us”)
But that relationship between Alpha and Negan was just perfect, right.
While Negan kills Alpha in Season 10 of The Walking Dead during “Walk With Us,” the build-up to this was absolutely amazing. From Negan “joining” the Saviors to him getting close to Alpha to their strange, sexual relationship to the moment he slits her throat and then cuts off her head to show it to Carol, of all people - every little part was so well-done and perfectly shows his willingness to still get the job done.
His and Samantha Morton’s chemistry was fantastic, and those two killed it - pun intended.
When Negan And Maggie Team Up To Take On The Reapers (Season 11, “Hunted”)
Negan and Maggie have some complicated relationship - He did kill her husband, Glenn, so there’s that - but I have to admit, seeing the two of them team up to take down the Reapers in The Walking Dead during Season 11’s “Hunter,” moving towards Meridian together, was the most hyped I’ve gotten for this show in a while.
They work together well, somehow, despite all their problems, and make a great badass pair. Honestly, it makes me eager to see what they do with this Maggie and Negan spinoff that is planned right now. I can’t wait to see what they do next.
Negan Is Hitched - And Expecting (Season 11, “The Rotten Core”)
In Season 11, Part 2 of The Walking Dead, during the episode “The Rotten Core,” it’s been some time since Negan has left Maggie and crew and gone on his own. In this time, Negan is married to a woman named Annie in a settlement - and is expecting a kid.
That’s right, Negan is going to be a daddy.
Just writing those words made me twist my face up in disgust but at the same time, I can’t help but think this is such a big moment for him. I mean, he’s spent so much time protecting kids in this show, pretty dang often, it’s fitting that out of everyone, he’s the person who gets hitched and has a kid. I think that’s a nice twist on his character.
With one more part to go in Season 11 of The Walking Dead, who knows what Negan will do next. But I’m sure he’ll do anything badass in his own fun way with that smirk we all love.
