Scott Gimple Compares The Matchup Between Rick And Negan

Towards the end of The Walking Dead‘s sixth season, the line of good and bad became quite blurry.

Rick Grimes, the show’s good guy, launched an all out assault on a new group called the Saviors. He rallied Alexandria to kill these men in their sleep and hunt down their leader in an effort to attain half of the supplies from a friendly community.

The difference between Rick and Negan is unclear, especially knowing so little about Negan on the TV series.

“I think if we followed Negan we might even be in the same place that we are with Rick where we’re like, ‘Whoa. What you’re doing there seems like the behavior of a bad person,’” showrunner Scott Gimple said in an interview with ComicBook.com. “What’s interesting is, I think for Rick’s experience, he’s justified in what he’s been doing. The world has formed him this way and what he’s done has generally been a reaction to being threatened and trying to make sure that his people live. Things are getting greyer and greyer and greyer. But I think the things that Rick has done you can hold up against the things that Negan has done and it’s not a vast gulf between those two but the way that they operate is very different. Their philosophies are very different and that’s maybe where we see one person being the hero and one person being the villain.”

Though the two character may not be all that different at this point, just doing what they need to in order to survive, their groups are vastly different. As seen in the season finale on Sunday, Rick’s group is largely outnumbered.

“As far as the dominance, the number, really the big thing as far as last night as far as seeing just how bad things are for Rick and his group, they keep on running into people,” Gimple says. “The amount of people and that they’re different people keeps growing and growing until the last scene where they are surrounded and the numbers are vast. Really, just talking manpower, man and womanpower really, Alexandria is in a good bit of trouble. There are many, many, many more Saviors.”

The exact ratio is unpredictable at this point but if I had to guess, it looks like the Saviors have Alexandria at a 10 to 1 disadvantage. Possibly more.

The Walking Dead returns in October for its seventh season. Expect its trailer to come out of San Diego Comic Con in July.