‘The Walking Dead’ Will Change Negan’s Jailbreak Story

The Walking Dead will change up Negan’s jailbreak story as the comic book moments are loosely adapted to the AMC series.

In Robert Kirkman‘s The Walking Dead comics, Negan is left in his cell and finds his cell door to be open. However, instead of leaving the cell, he stays put to show Rick and the other Alexandrians that he has changed and can be trusted. Further down the line, Negan breaks out of jail and has an outing with the Whisperers. During an appearance on Talking Dead, Kirkman opened up about what fans can expected

“Well, I mean, the storyline in the comics, the cell door was left open and he stayed inside to show how he had changed and allowed them to lock him back up,” Kirkman said. “Probably not gonna go that way. I think he murders everyone in their sleep!”

In the books, it appeared Negan is going to go straight back to his villainous ways when he makes a break from his prison cell. There were some serious plot twists which followed, though. After the former villain meets the Whisperers and appears to be joining them, he elects to sever the head of their leader Alpha, delivering it to Rick as though it were a trophy and good deed. Though he is proud of his work and believes himself to earned a bit of trust from Rick, he is still not welcome in Alexandria after the Whisperer War because he started just that — a war with a major foe.

“I am excited for fans to watch and see what happens, because I think Negan is a complicated character and we’ve seen that he’s a guy who will bash in people’s heads to make a point,” The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang told Comicbook.com. “We’ve also seen that he was at the lowest of the low point earlier in the season, was suicidal. We’ve also seen that he has a particular relationship with Judith Grimes that seems like pretty friendly and nice. And so, all of these things are kind of churning within Negan, and that’s part of his story going forward. So I think that there’s some interesting twists and turns to be had with Negan one way or the other.”

Whether or not Negan’s redemption arc is headed to The Walking Dead is unknown and the AMC series is still a bit behind the equivalent story points from the comics. Either way, Jeffrey Dean Morgan told ComicBook.com after reading the particular issue where his character kills Alpha that he is definitely in it for the “long haul” with tremendous enthusiasm for the arc’s possibility.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 pm ET. Fear the Walking Dead will return for its fifth season in 2019. For complete coverage and insider info all year long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter and watch ComicBook.com’s After The Dead each Sunday night following new episodes.