The Walking Dead's Jeffrey Dean Morgan Says A Lot Has Been Added To Negan That's Not In The Comics

To many fans, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is the perfect Negan. The actor hasn’t played the leather-clad [...]

To many fans, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is the perfect Negan. The actor hasn't played the leather-clad villain for long since he only debuted in the finale of Season 6. But, when he introduced himself to viewers, fans learned that Jeffrey would do Negan justice. After all, The Walking Dead comics depict the baddie as an unhinged manic masochist. And, now, the actor is saying fans will soon see that a lot has been added to Negan for the show.

Jeffrey recently spoke with Entertainment Weekly about Negan and the character's future. When asked about how often he's thought about his role, Jeffrey said, "I sure thought about him a lot. I have stacks of all the comic books, and what I have taken from those panels is a posture or a smile or whatever it is, and then filling those blanks in between."

"As closely as we follow what Negan says and does in those comic books, we also have to add and subtract. We've added a lot, obviously, that's not in the comic books with Negan," he continued. "Not only trying to keep his language and his persona, but it's how he walks and how he stands and all that kind of stuff."

The actor then went on to discuss the differences he's noticed between his Negan and the one from the comics. "As far as similarities with the comic book, yeah, he [Negan] might be a little bit more manic, but understand that I've got to connect those panels together and how Negan does that," Jeffrey explained.

He went on to say, "If I just make this guy manic and kind of one dimensional then I don't have anywhere to go. So I thought, for me, and especially after doing that first episode, the introduction, and some head bashing, there had to be a place I could go. I try to make every scene a little bit of a rollercoaster so you don't know. So it'll keep you on your toes of where Negan is, and I only have so much I can go on working on the comic book."

For Jeffrey, it seems the best description of his Negan is disarming. The villain possesses a certain amount of laid-back charm that clashes with his violent rage. Fans got their first taste of Negan's laissez-faire aggression in the Season 6 finale when the baddie brought his barbed-wire bat down upon an unknown member of Rick's group. The gory attack and all its consequences will be explored when The Walking Dead returns for Season 7, and fans have been vocal about their desire to find out who Negan murdered.

However, Jeffrey is warning fans they should be careful what they wish for. The actor has indicated that fans will be shocked by the premiere of Season 7, saying, "You're going to get those answers answered and more, and you're probably not going to be happy with it."

On the other hand, The Walking Dead's creator has said fans should be looking forward to next season. "There's a lot of really great stuff coming," he said in a recent interview. "I mean, Negan has been introduced. He's going to be this ever-present threat in the show from now on. This amazing 12 minutes that we got in season 6 is going to be nearly every episode now for a while moving forward."

The Walking Dead returns for its seventh season on October 23.

[H/T] Entertainment Weekly

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