When Negan debuted on The Walking Dead during the season six finale, fans were raving about his faithful adaptation of the character. From his attitude and charm, to his menacing dialogue and baseball swing, Negan was almost exactly like his comic counterpart.
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Almost is the key word there, as comic fans are incredibly aware of one major difference between the two iterations of the character.
The Negan in The Walking Dead comics was always completely clean shaven. If some recent photos are accurate, Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character could be donning the classic look later this season. One photo in particular shows Morgan with a much cleaner face.
When Morgan was first introduced on The Walking Dead, he had the full beard. When asked why he didn’t shave, he let everyone know it was because of his role on The Good Wife. He was still filming the show’s final episodes when he was called in for his season six appearance on The Walking Dead. Since he had to return to The Good Wife after Negan’s opening scene, the beard had to stay.
During an appearance on Talking Dead, Morgan described why the beard had to stay.
“That wasn’t in the comic book, that particular line, but Kirkman and Scott, they both wanted me to shave my beard, but I was in the middle of doing a job (The Good Wife) when I came down to Atlanta to shoot that scene. Literally in the middle of an episode so I couldn’t just shave it. I think we’d shot the end of the episode.”
Now that The Good Wife is over, Morgan is at the mercy of The Walking Dead. It wouldn’t have made sense for Negan to shave to start season seven, mainly because it took place directly following the season six finale.
This photo suggests that Negan could find a way to shave his beard, to look more professional, as the conflict with Rick comes to a head. After all, Negan did mention at one point that he “Needed to shave.”
Are you looking forward to seeing the classic, clean-shaven Negan? Will you miss the beard? Let us know in the comments below.
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The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.