The Walking Dead: Jeffrey Dean Morgan Has Seen Lucille and Met Steven Yeun

Jeffrey Dean Morgan has met the most important character for him on The Walking Dead: a barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat named Lucille.

“She is gorgeous,” he told EW. “She is a beautiful girl.”

The actor said he “grew up with a bat in [his] hands,” and his love for comic books is well known. When a fan told him he should be Negan on The Walking Dead a few years ago, he caught up with the comic and loved the character. Like the new villain, he uses “some colorful language,” saying he’s “really f***ing excited,” and when he got offered the role he said, “Absolutely. We’re going to f***ing do it!”

He has been to the set in Atlanta already, and met the cast, including Steven Yeun. No Spoilers here, but suffice to say, Glenn and Negan have an interesting relationship in the comics.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen yet,” he said with a laugh. He did promise that some of that “colorful language” will make it on the show, though probably not an f-bomb every five or so words like Negan utilizes frequently on the printed page.

“Look, it’s a speed bump. I’m not going to say it’s an issue because they’re working on it. We’re going to push AMC — the plan is to push them as far as they can because it’s who Negan is,” he promised. “It’s our intention that this character is going to leap off the pages of the comic book. It’s very important that that’s who it is. Some of the characters there’s much more leeway, but Negan is a guy that you want to keep as true as possible, and that would be how I want to play him as well.”

The Walking Dead returns to AMC Sunday February 14, 2016.