The big question that’s been on everyone’s mind since the season six finale of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” is who died at the hands of Negan, the new villain of the series played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. There have been theories and speculations running rampant since before the credits of that episode even finished rolling but nothing has been set in stone. Even the majority of the cast and crew didn’t know for a long time as they each had to film their own death scene so as to keep the public and media unaware of the real outcome. Now, Morgan is going to make things even more agonizing as he’s let loose some rather news that I imagine will be rather distressing for fans of the series.
Talking with DenOfGeek, Morgan admits, “Negan’s not just going to kill one person in [the premiere]. He’s not afraid of bashing in skulls.” It seems that even though this is a rather horrifying admission, Morgan finds a rather sick, gleeful delight in the character, stating, “As soon as the cameras are rolling and I get Lucille in my hand, it kind of just transforms me. This character in particular has been such a joy to play for me. Put the dark stuff aside and the horrible things that Negan does… As an actor, it’s just been so much fun.”
I guess we’ll have to wait to see which folk Negan kills when the seventh season of the show premieres on Sunday, October 23 at 9/8c on AMC.
Up until this point, our characters have lived through conflicts… Disease, hunger, scores of the undead, tragedy, betrayal, and unthinkable loss. Through this, they’ve become formidable. Powerful. Unstoppable.
To start Season Seven, that power is taken away. They had found safety and stability. They had created a home. They thought the world was theirs. They thought they knew the world. They were wrong.
The first half of Season Seven sees our group fractured, broken, bereaved, and picking up the pieces while living under the thumb of oppression. Negan will have successfully brought the survivors under his control, brutally convincing them to live under his rules with a deadly and horrific example of what happens if they don’t.
Other characters are unaware of what’s happened, but have become separated from the group either by incident or choice — they will learn that they can’t escape this new turn of their world, either. This half season is about these characters starting over.
The overall theme of the season is beginning again. The world isn’t what they thought it was. It’s bigger and it’s even more dangerous.
“The Walking Dead” is executive produced by Robert Kirkman, Showrunner Scott M. Gimple, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Greg Nicotero and Tom Luse.
