Jeffrey Dean Morgan Says ‘The Walking Dead’ Will Explore Negan’s Backstory This Season

Little is known about Negan, The Walking Dead‘s newest and enigmatic big bad played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. He wields a barbwire-wrapped baseball bat he affectionately calls “Lucille.” He rules over an army of extortionists known as the Saviors with an iron, glove-covered fist. And he has a penchant for leaning.

While The Walking Dead season 8 won’t show any of Negan’s origin story — there’s a “loose plan” in place to bring Negan’s backstory to audiences in the show’s future, according to showrunner Scott M. Gimple — the current season will reveal more about Rick Grimes’ arch foe.

“The great thing about this year, that I can tell y’all, is that we’re going to find out a lot more about Negan,” Morgan told audiences during a Q&A panel at Walker Stalker Con Atlanta. “There is a lot of Negan’s backstory out there. We haven’t filmed any of that, but there are conversations with a few characters where we’ll find out a little more about him. We’ll have some quieter moments this year, some one-on-one interactions where you’ll learn more about where he’s from. Even if you hate Negan, you’re gonna start to understand how he became the man that he is and why he does the things that he does. I’m learning more about Negan every time I put on my leather jacket.”

Ahead of the episode 100 premiere, Morgan revealed during last month’s The Walking Dead season 8 preview special that Alexandrian-turned-Savior Eugene (Josh McDermitt) will help divulge some of Negan’s history. You’ll have to keep watching to see what information about Negan is dished out on the show, but fans of Robert Kirkman’s comic book have an idea of what to expect from Negan’s official origin story, “Here’s Negan,” which was recently collected in a standalone hardcover.

“I take that Here’s Negan story as the backstory,” Gimple said. “There’s some aspects of it that will probably be cool [on the show]. It’s some fairly far-flung stuff… in the future, you will see some stuff from that.”

Last we saw Negan in 8×01 he was possibly shot by Rick and was shown to be hiding out in a trailer from a massive horde of Walkers alongside Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), the enemies trapped with no apparent way out.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.