Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | TV | June 27, 2023
Negan was introduced to The Walking Dead at the end of season six with a flamboyant, showboaty speech that culminated in the death of Glenn and Abraham in the seventh season premiere. Poor Abraham — forever overshadowed by the death of Glenn. That event ultimately cost The Walking Dead millions of viewers, but it also introduced the series to its most dynamic character. Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character is the best villain in The Walking Dead history, but he’s also become one of its best heroes.
This tension was largely resolved in the final few seasons of The Walking Dead after Negan spent seven years in prison, saved the life of nearly every major character at least once, and ultimately hoodwinked and killed Alpha, the biggest threat on the series besides Negan himself. In the final season, Negan and Maggie came to a sort of understanding: Maggie still hated him for killing her husband, but she also appreciated and respected both his value and his loyalty.
In The Walking Dead: Dead City, which admittedly has a terrible name, there’s been another time jump of about a decade or so, where Maggie’s son Herschel — now a teenager — has been abducted by the Croat, played by the brilliant character actor Željko Ivanek. The Croat resides on the island of Manhattan, which has been largely abandoned to the zombies in the post-apocalypse. Maggie is compelled to retrieve her son from the Croat, which forces her to reunite with her old frenemy, Negan, who is familiar with the Croat’s ways. The Croat worked for Negan as a torturer during his Savior days, but he was so depraved that even Negan had to disown him. Meanwhile, Negan is also being pursued as a wanted man by Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles, Friday Night Lights), the marshal of the New Babylon Federation, a federation of survivor communities throughout New Jersey and New York.
That’s the setup for Dead City, which — through two episodes — has been entertaining but nonessential viewing except for the most hardcore of The Walking Dead fans. What was interesting was a development in the most recent episode, the second of the first season’s six episodes. Despite their working relationship, there continues to be a tense personal relationship between Maggie and Negan. Maggie, rightfully, has a hard time getting over the fact that Negan brutally murdered her husband. Negan, however, reminds Maggie that she, too, has taken many lives. In the zombie apocalypse, it’s not about good or bad. It’s about survival, and the line between hero and villain is often blurred, a concept The Walking Dead played with frequently in the earlier seasons, especially with Rick Grimes.
Negan also reminded Maggie in the most recent episode that the Negan who killed her husband was a front, that he put on a big show to strike fear into others to protect his community. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen that version of Negan. However, after a confrontation with some of the Croat’s troops, the old Negan resurfaced and Maggie witnessed this transformation.
Negan took one of the Croat’s men hostage and, while standing a floor above another group of the Croat’s people in an abandoned train station, delivered another one of his old-school speeches designed to strike fear into his enemy. “Knock, knock. Who’s there,” joked Negan the showman. “Butter. Butter who? You better get out your umbrellas because it’s about to goddamn rain,” Negan continued, before slicing open his prisoner’s neck and stomach, spraying blood all over the people below, and throwing the corpse overboard.
It was a full display of the old Negan, and Maggie didn’t just witness it, she finally understood why Negan transformed: To protect his people, who in this case, includes Maggie herself. As terrifying as it is to see, Maggie now appreciates why it’s necessary. While there may be some revisionism involved, Maggie knows that the man who killed her husband wasn’t a real monster; he was only pretending to be one.
