Robert Kirkman didn’t have to think twice about casting Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Conquest in Invincible. The idea of a The Walking Dead connection was simply too tempting to resist.
The Invincible season 3 finale was one of the most epic episodes of television in recent years. A brutal, super-powered bloodbath, the finale was almost an hour of pure fighting between Mark Grayson and all-powerful Viltrumite Invincible. If you thought Mark’s face-off with Omni-Man in the season 1 finale was brutal, this one took things to a whole new level.
The battle came about after Mark Greyson continued to disobey the Viltrumite Empire, choosing against priming Earth for Viltrumite takeover. In order to teach him a lesson, they sent over Conquest — one of the most powerful beings in the universe — to beat him up and teach him a lesson in obedience. And beat Mark up, he does. Conquest takes no prisoners. He levels entire cities, killing innumerable innocent people, in the harsh lesson he teaches Mark.
However, by the end of the episode, both Mark and Atom Eve manage to just about stop Conquest… but the damage has already been done. They were victorious in defeating him, but it felt like a failure in so many ways.
The Invincible-Conquest fight was an event from the comics that readers had been desperate to see played out on-screen. And one think few people expected was hearing the voice of Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Of course, Morgan played Negan in The Walking Dead, and Mark’s voice actor Steven Yeun played Glenn in the zombie series. Any Walking Dead fan will tell you that Negan and Glenn shared one of the most brutal scenes in television history. To put it simply, Negan killed Glenn by bashing in his head with a barbed-wire covered baseball bat.
Robert Kirkman talks ‘The Walking Dead’ and ‘Breaking Bad’ reunions!
In an interview with Variety, Robert Kirkman — creator of both The Walking Dead and Invincible — revealed that the chance to cast Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Conquest was an opportunity too good to give up. I mean, it’s the ultimate rematch, right?
I’m always trying to find roles for the actors that I know and love and want to work with again. I’m always trying to find something for Jeffrey. When he started showing up on “The Boys,” I couldn’t let Eric Kripke have all the fun. At some point, it became, “When we get to Conquest, Jeffrey Dean Morgan would be perfect for that.” I didn’t hesitate just because there is the meta of it all like, “Oh, it’s the rematch between Glenn and Negan, and now Glenn gets to win.” Something about it seemed fun and interesting.
Funnily enough, another reunion that season 3 offered up was a return to action for Breaking Bad stars Aaron Paul and Jonathan Banks. According to Kirkman, this reunion wasn’t exactly just for the novelty; it simply worked out that they were both perfect for their respective roles.
“Well, it’s funny because we just thought Aaron Paul was perfect for Powerplex and that Jonathan Banks was perfect for Brit,” he said. “It didn’t even occur to us that they’re going to be in scenes together and it’ll be a ‘Breaking Bad’ reunion.”
“It’s always just a goal of casting the best actor for the role and sometimes these things happen by accident,” he explained. “All that said, I would love for there to be a ‘Wire’ reunion in a future season of ‘Invincible’.”
Personally, I’m all for every reunion opportunity. As long as the actors actually fit the roles they’d be voicing, it adds an extra element to the series. A-list actors don’t seem hard to come by for the Invincible team!
