If you're a serious TV series binge watcher or just a big fan of social media the name 'Negan' will of definitely appeared numerous times over the last couple of months. Whether or not you're a follower of the series 'The Walking Dead' the season 7 premiere accumulated a staggering 17 million viewers across cable and broadcast; this caused trends worldwide and even tempted those who weren't familiar with the show to watch the episode due to it being called AMC's most 'brutal' climax.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who played the controversial Eddie Blake in Watchmen (2009) and more commonly known as Denny Duquette from the TV series Grey's Anatomy, reprises his role as a charismatic villain in the form of Negan. Those who follow The Walking Dead comics knew that Negan would be introduced to the apocalyptic world and in turn knew of the horror that would follow his arrival.
Morgan didn't disappoint in his performance during the season finale's cliffhanger of series 6, causing major uproar from fans on social media and also attention from newspapers such as The Independent who even speculated theories on who got 'Lucille'd'. To clarify Lucille is Negan's trusty barbed wire covered baseball bat who he gives anthropomorphic qualities by referring to it as 'she'. During the finale episode Rick Grimes, the protagonist of the show, along with his family and friends were forced to kneel down in a line in front of a group known as 'The Saviors.' Being outnumbered and having their weapons taken against their will, Rick (Andrew Lincoln), who has shown throughout the series he is a man not to be messed with, has finally cracked under the pressure. With pure exasperation and fear spread across his face, the viewers and fans were mortified. Rick was no longer in charge like he always had been and with Negan, the leader of The Saviors, smugly striding out of the RV with his debut line, "are we p***ing our pants yet?" stirred a paramount of fear in both The Walking Dead world and also for the viewers. The reality of the situation kicked in for Rick when Negan announced he would have to kill one of them for killing a bunch of his people in the episodes previous.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan was passionate about playing the fan loved character from the comics, his mannerisms and speech echoed precisely what made Negan, Negan. His love of swearing and the sadistic smile he wore as he taunted Rick's group all worked to create an unsettling, hopeless atmosphere that left people on the edge of their seats for the remaining 10 minutes of the episode. The episode had ended on a cliffhanger, the viewer got a POV shot from the victim that was Lucille'd before the episode ended in darkness.
Speculation and theories surfaced across all platforms during the 6 month wait before fans found out who was killed. Fan speculation even included which character might be picked from the 'Eenie Meenie' song Negan sang as he pointed his bat at each of the characters. As the season 7 premiere launched, fans from the comics knew that Glenn (Steven Yeun) died gruesomely by Negan's bat but the producers of the show mixed the deaths from time to time, such as Denise (Merret Wever) getting Abraham's (Michael Cudlitz) death of an arrow through the eye in season 6 so it wasn't expected that Glenn would get his iconic comic book death.
As the episode went on we saw Negan take Rick out in the RV to assert his dominance. Rick at one point laid on top of the RV after fighting off some walkers before we got a flashback of the cliffhanger viewers were left with in the previous season. All this was done from Rick's point of view, we saw him watch as Negan stalked each one of the group members before finally landing on Abraham, the hearty former U.S. Army Sergeant who wanted more than anything to settle down with his new love Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green).
Viewers were left stunned as it showed Abraham receive a skull crushing smack to the head before Negan carried on hitting to completely deform him. Sasha looked on in horror as her boyfriend was killed right next to her but the shock didn't end there. Negan then began to taunt Abraham's ex girlfriend Rosita (Christian Serratos) with Lucille who had Abraham's flesh hanging off the razor cut wire. Daryl (Norman Reedus) then proceeded to punch Negan in the face in a fit of rage as Negan's men threw him back in line.
Negan calmly stated, "I need you guys to know me, so back at it" and then in an act that would break the hearts of millions he brought his bat down on Glenn Rhee's head. The brutal scene was emphasised by Glenn lifting his head up to reveal his eye that was popping out of his skull from the force of the hit. Negan laughed sadistically before he said, "Buddy are you still there? I just don't know. It seems like you're trying to speak but you just took a hell of a hit. I just popped your skull so hard your eyeball just popped out and it's gross as s***!"
Glenn's last words, "Maggie I'll find you," were aimed at his pregnant wife, Maggie, (Lauren Cohan) who could only look on in complete despair. These two major character deaths had left fans in utmost shock. Only expecting one death many people thought that the episode was too much, even some vowing to never watch it again after the fan favourite pizza delivery boy, Glenn Rhee, had died. Others gave the episode praise as it was the most anticipated TV series premiere of the year.
Overall Negan has been shown to be the new, seemingly unstoppable villain that has even said to have overtaken the likes of The Governor (David Morrissey) who died in season 4. We are yet to see any real weaknesses from Negan and we know he's likely to be around for a long time, but with Morgan taking on the role so well it will be a pleasure to watch him cause tyranny among our now broken, much loved team family.
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