SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses the events of last night’s episode of ‘The Walking Dead’ plus the preview of the second half of this season, which aired twice, during ‘Into The Badlands’ and on ‘Talking Dead’.  If you are not caught up, you may wish to turn back now.

“Your property now belongs to Negan,” announced the leader of a pack of bikers encountered by wayward Daryl, Sasha and Abraham on their way back to Alexandria, in a special post-credits addendum to Sunday night’s midseason finale of ‘The Walking Dead’.

It was an occurrence readers of the source graphic novels have been looking forward to for years now and especially as recent events on the show have begun mirroring those in the books that preceded the arrival of one of the most important villains in the narrative’s history.  Then just weeks ago, it was announced that Jeffrey Dean Morgan had been cast as Negan on the show.

Though he couldn’t offer specifics, comic book creator Robert Kirkman did caution that Negan’s presence would be dramatic:

“The fact that we’re getting to that point in the show now where this catalyst is going to be thrown in at some point in the future, I can’t say which episode but clearly he’s been cast so you guys know he’s coming up, that’s just going to fundamentally change everything that we’re doing in a really interesting, drastic and very scary way.”

There was some buzz that Morgan would appear as Negan in the midseason finale, but that wasn’t the case, as Rick and the denizens of Alexandria already had enough problems to deal with.  But in the teaser scene, viewers at least know that he is on his way, most likely when the show returns in the New Year.

In the comics, Negan leads another pack of survivors called The Saviors which he rules with a stringent, though off-kilter, code of conduct.  He is known for having a sick sense of humor and his profane dialogue.

He carries a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire that he calls Lucille and in the comics, he uses it to kill… a MAJOR regular character.  This was done while several other major characters were gathered and forced to watch as Negan bashed this character’s head to pulp, powerless to stop him.

Recently, a very blurry video of Morgan made up as Negan, swinging Lucille, apparently bashing someone’s head in leaked online and was quickly taken down.  So it sounds like the scene will be recreated on the show, although expect major changes.  For one, I’m pretty sure Negan’s victim will switch, following recent events on the show.

His violent nature shouldn’t be that hard to convey on this show.  A bigger obstacle will be his f-word peppered vocabulary.  ‘The Walking Dead’ airs on cable after nine, so a couple of curse words are allowed each episode.  But one scene of Negan, as he is depicted in the comics, would burn up the series potty mouth allowance for years to come.  Well, as Abraham has shown, they can get creative with their expletives.

As for actor Morgan, he may be most recognizable to genre fans for playing The Comedian in ‘Watchman’, but he is also famous for playing John Winchester, the father of Sam and Dean on ‘Supernatural’, as well as role in ‘The Losers’, ‘Extant’, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘Weeds’, ‘The Good Wife’ and many others.  He will be seen next year as Thomas Wayne in ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’.

Are you excited about Negan coming to the TV show?  Who do you think his first major kill will be?

Source: Cinema Blend