As The Walking Dead has been proving for nearly eleven full seasons now, it's hard out there in the post-apocalyptic world, even when it comes to just acting in it. For a high-profile cable show like this, hundreds, if not thousands, of moving parts need to work in conjunction in order to produce the quality work that fans are used to. Of course, the devil is in the details, and The Walking Dead has featured few characters more devilish than Jeffrey Dean Morgan's villain-turned-protagonist Negan. So perhaps it makes sense that actor behind the redeemed character earned some finger-pointing after Morgan's cell phone made an anachronistic cameo in the episode "The Rotten Core.” Once the actor caught wind of it all, he acknowledged the flub with a short and sweet response.
After Season 11’s latest episode aired on AMC, eagle-eyed Walking Dead fans took to the Internet to spotlight the timeline-breaking appearance of Morgan’s phone, which immediately brought to mind one of TV’s biggest on-screen prop errors: Game of Thrones’ infamous coffee cup. And much like fans’ screengrabs will forever remind us about that out-of-place drinking vessel, so shall fans’ pics of the phone hanging out of Negan’s jeans. Here’s how he reacted to the telecommunicative error on Twitter:
Oops.March 28, 2022
If anything, this speaks to Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s assumed penchant for quickly hopping on his phone during gaps in filming, though fans will obviously wonder why he didn’t feel it back there in the moment. It’s not like Negan needs a wallet, either, so something should have felt funny.
Perhaps unfortunately for viewers who saw the phone immediately and disrupted their own suspension of TV disbelief, Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s phone was visible during one of the most emotional scenes of not only that episode, but the season thus far. Not to mention an exchange that will likely have ramifications while heading toward Negan and Maggie’s upcoming spinoff Isle of the Dead.
It came as Kien Michael Spiller’s Hershel held Negan at gunpoint, having figured out that the brute was responsible for turning Glenn’s head inside-out. Rather than defusing the situation by force or by panicking, Negan calmly laid things out for the fatherless youth. While he understood the need for revenge, and even mostly agreed that he deserved a fatal punishment for Glenn’s death, Negan pointed out that pulling the trigger in that situation wouldn’t just be the wisest choice, since the loud gunshots would instantly draw Carlson and his soldiers to their hideout. We already know that Jeffrey Dean Morgan himself wishes he could go back in time to stop Negan from killing Glenn, and we can now assume he wishes he could go back and ask a nearby production assistant to hold on to his phone for a while.
Amusingly enough, this wasn’t the only time Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s phone popped up within the world of The Walking Dead, as one of the replies to the actor’s “Oops” message pointed out a previous instance. In one Season 7 episode featuring Negan inside Alexandria, there’s a very particular phone-shaped bulge in the front pocket of his jeans that was never digitally adjusted. I guess that one could be explained away as an old pack of cigarettes or…I dunno, a few packs of baseball cards? Whatever the case may be, The Walking Dead’s editing crew may be paying that much more attention to character’s pocket details when putting together the remaining eps.
The Walking Dead has just two episodes left to go ahead of its final midseason hiatus, as Season 11 will return later this year for the AMC drama’s final eight episodes ever. (Just for the flagship, of course, since there are spinoffs galore.) It airs Sunday nights at 8:00 p.m. ET, as followed by Talking Dead. While waiting for the next new ep, check out all the other shows like TWD that are ending in 2022, and head to our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what new and returning shows are coming soon.
