‘The Walking Dead’ Saves Negan With Major Oceanside Reveal

The Walking Dead seems to be making an effort to offer Negan redemptive qualities, stripping him of the burden of slaughtering Oceanside in an Episode 8×15 reveal.

Spoilers for The Walking Dead Episode 8×15, Worth, follow!

After revealing himself to be back at home at the Sanctuary, Negan turned his attention to Simon. Simon, after all, had tried to overthrow the Savior leader by telling the rest of the group he had been killed in a car accident and proceeded to make an effort to exterminate the Hilltop community. This, of course, all came after he directly betrayed Negan’s orders at the trash heap and killed all of Jadis’ people.

In Episode 8×15, it was revealed Simon was, in fact, responsible for the slaughter of the Oceanside community’s men and children, rather than Negan. “When you helped me take this place, I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep you on board,” Negan said. “Before me, before there was a system in place, what you did, killing all those men, those boys in that settlement so long ago… A lot of people would think that is some psychotic s—! Like that is the work of a broken, demented, g–d— ghoul!”

The dialogue cleared Negan of the Oceanside slaughter, offering him yet another shot at redemption through the audience’s eyes, after humanizing him upon his learning of Carl’s death and revealing he was very much in love with his late wife Lucille just one episode back.

The reveal was news to Simon actor Steven Ogg, as well, as the actor wasn’t given such information until reading the script for Episode 8×15.

“That was a surprise, and of course, that’s what can be tough,” Ogg told ComicBook.com. “You make certain choices as an actor, and I made certain choices, and you never know. Getting that, I didn’t know if I was always supposed to be this psycho man, or was it supposed to be something a little unknown and different? It’s interesting, how it played out, but I didn’t know about that, for sure.”

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on AMC. Fear the Walking Dead will debut its fourth season after The Walking Dead concludes its eighth, at 10 pm ET on April 15. For complete coverage and insider info all year long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.