Jeffrey Dean Morgan looks back on his long and complex journey in The Walking Dead, and predicts how long he expects to continue playing the iconic villain.
We’re now approaching 10 years since Jeffrey Dean Morgan made his hugely divisive introduction into The Walking Dead, brutally beating Glenn and Abraham to death by using his barbed-wire covered baseball bat, Lucille. In the years since that moment, Negan has become one of the franchise’s most interesting characters, with the writers giving him something of a redemption arc.
His latest foray is in The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2, where Negan is thrust back into a leadership position in Manhattan. And despite destroying the original Lucille, he has an all-new version of the baseball bat back by his side. Negan’s journey is one that the writers of The Walking Dead have a clear focus on. As for how much longer we’ll continue to see him on our screens, Morgan sees no reason to tie things up anytime soon.
“This has been part of my life for so long now that I don’t ever picture it ending unless I finally say I’m too old to do this anymore, which I am getting dangerously close to.” Morgan said at the Canneseries premiere of The Walking Dead: Dead City (per Variety). “It’s interesting, especially doing this spinoff with two characters who want to kill each other 90% of the time, because I had never heard of this being a workable concept before. Yet, here we are, with season two coming out and talking about doing more. We’ll see.”
I mean, who says no to old man Negan? Imagine him and Rick Grimes crossing paths many years down the line — how cool would that be?
After approaching a decade as Negan, Morgan also reflected on his tenure as a key figure on the zombie series. “I feel like I’ve earned my stripes. 10 years is a long time. This is not an easy show to do in any way, mentally and certainly physically, so I’m amazed by the fact that I’m still able to pull off my part of it,” he added.
The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 continues Sundays on AMC, from May 4. Will you be tuning in?
