With The Walking Dead coming to an end next year, attention has already turned to what potential spin-offs we could see come from the Robert Kirkman universe. This already has a number of shows and movies in the works, as well as series like The Walking Dead: World Beyond and Fear The Walking Dead. When it comes to fan favorite characters that could see their stories continue after the main show ends, Jeffrey Dean Morgan would be more than happy to see the story of Negan carry on, but would be more interested in doing a sequel rather than a prequel with the character.
When Negan made his first appearance on the show, it came as a mixed blessing to The Walking Dead, giving the series one of its best episodes but also creating such a peak that the series never truly recovered, which led to more and more mixed ratings and dwindling viewing figures. However, after spending a number of seasons as a love-to-hate character, Negan became one of those characters who manages to earn their redemption, and – almost – all of their previous wrong-doing is forgotten over time. Now that the series is coming to an end, Jeffrey Dean Morgan believes that there are still Negan stories to be told in the universe of The Walking Dead, and following the “Here’s Negan” prequel episode of the show, Morgan confirmed that there are talks for a full spin-off series.
“There’ve been things discussed with me and network people,” Morgan said in an interview with TVLine. “We’ll see. I mean, Negan could still find his way six feet under [before Season 11 concludes], so that could be a problem unless it’s a prequel. But there are still stories to be told with Negan. I kind of know how the season has worked itself so far, and we’re cracking open windows here and there that would lend themselves to more Negan story.”
Negan is one of those characters that actors love to play; he shakes up the show, he has the best lines, and above all else he is just one of those characters that gets to do pretty much whatever he wants to whoever he wants – well, for a time at least. Morgan couldn’t be happier in the role, which is probably why he is reluctant to let Negan go just yet.
“I do love Negan,” he continued. “There’s an amazing opportunity to dive a lot deeper into this man who I think has become very interesting the last few years. I’m certainly not opposed to keeping him alive for a bit longer and finding out more about him. I’ll be very honest with you, if I was to do more, I would like to move forward with the story and not backward. I loved what we showed [of his history] in ‘Here’s Negan,’ but now we’ve done a lot of that story. We could do a short series on how the Saviors came to be, which would be kind of interesting, but I’m more looking forward. We’ve shown these different sides of Negan over the past few years. Now I’d like to see, after this ends, what happens to him next. I find that possibility to be a lot more interesting than going back in time.”
The first part of The Walking Dead‘s extended final season is currently airing on AMC on Sundays, and is also available on Disney+. A Daryl & Carol spinoff series is also set to continue the franchise. This comes to us from TVLine.