Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Lydia (Cassady McClincy) have a tough talk in the next episode of The Walking Dead. In “The Tower,” the survivors are forced to flee Alexandria when Beta (Ryan Hurst) leads his walker army into the community after the death of Whisperer leader Alpha (Samantha Morton). It was Carol (Melissa McBride) who conspired with Negan to kill Lydia’s mother, who was murdered when Negan used a captured Lydia as bait to lure Alpha to a shack in the woods. There Negan slit Alpha’s throat before delivering her decapitated head to Carol at the Whisperer border, where Carol placed Alpha’s head on a spike.
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“We are gonna dig into the Lydia and Negan ‘post-Alpha beheading,’” Morgan said on Talking Dead, adding the “mama gone conversation is gonna happen.”
Negan earlier acted as a paternal figure for Lydia when the ex-Whisperer was violently ambushed by Margo (Jerri Tubbs), Alfred (David Shae), and Gage (Jackson Pace) in Season 10 episode 4, “Silence the Whisperers.” Negan saved Lydia but accidentally killed Margo in the process, causing the Alexandria council to put Negan’s execution up to a vote. While Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) was left acting as the deciding vote, Carol freed Negan from jail with orders to infiltrate the Whisperers and bring her Alpha’s head — a clandestine mission that took him roughly three days.
“I think that Negan likes the underdog, and he doesn’t like people getting picked on, and he doesn’t like bullies. With Lydia, Negan has to step in and save her,” Morgan said in a behind-the-scenes video from earlier this season about Negan’s decision to save Lydia. “It’s just ruining the whole villain thing, isn’t it? But something horrible happens, and a lot of people are gonna take this wrong.”
Morgan is also hopeful Negan’s actions, including rescuing Daryl (Norman Reedus) from attacking Whisperers, will allow the anti-hero to assimilate into the group of Alexandria survivors.
“I think that, moving forward, our group is in big trouble with the Whisperers, much more trouble than they were in with Negan and the Saviors. And if I think if someone can step forward and help, it’s Negan,” Morgan said on a previous episode of Talking Dead. “Will our group be open to that? I mean, honestly, I don’t know what’s in Angela [Kang, showrunner] or [TWD chief content officer Scott] Gimple’s mind and what they have in store.”
“But I would love to see him get a chance to work with our group,” Morgan added. “Just give him the chance.”
“The Tower” will act as the Season 10 finale because of the coronavirus pandemic and will premiere Sunday, April 5 at 9/8c on AMC. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.
