‘The Walking Dead’ Made a Conscious Decision to Use Negan Less in Season Nine

The Walking Dead made a "conscious decision" to minimize its use of the jailed Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in Season Nine following two Savior-heavy seasons, according to showrunner Angela Kang.

"I think it's because the last chapter of the story of The Walking Dead was this All Out War story that was so heavily focused on Negan and the Saviors. When I came into working on this season with the writers, I really thought, 'Okay, we've kind of told that chapter of the story, so let's see what our characters are up to now,'" Kang told CinemaBlend.

"Negan, and his legacy, is something that really hangs heavy over our characters. But I wanted to tell that story through what the others are doing. And I think that in a lot of ways, by having sort of key moments with him this season, those moments are very memorable," Kang added. "And I think Jeffrey does an amazing job, but we wanted to kind of show off a bit of an evolution with his character. I just felt that for the way that the particular story was going this season, that less was more."

Season Nine reintroduced Negan after an 18-month time jump as a semi-broken prisoner of Alexandria, where he engaged in infrequent sit-downs with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira).

Six years after an intense confrontation with Maggie (Lauren Cohan) that left him begging for death, Negan has since taken to Rick and Michonne's daughter, Judith (Cailey Fleming), and enjoys riling up caretaker and "therapist" Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam).

"Negan definitely has his moments to shine, and he's got more coming up, but it was a conscious decision, just from a storytelling perspective of wanting to show where everybody was at in the aftermath of that war," Kang explained. "And it felt more powerful to kind of focus on the people who were not in the prison cell, while also giving us an insight into Negan. From episode to episode, when we see him, he's definitely in a different place than we've ever seen him in the past."

Negan's unique dynamic with Judith will be mined further in future episodes as the ousted Savior leader's nearly eight-year prison sentence continues to affect his attitude and his relationships with other characters.

The Walking Dead premieres its mid-season finale Sunday at 9/8c on AMC.