The Walking Dead’s Daryl and Negan Team Up Against the Whisperers

The Walking Dead teamed Daryl (Norman Reedus) with enemy Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in “Look at the Flowers,” where heroes and villains reckoned with fallout from Whisperer leader Alpha’s (Samantha Morton) death. Carol (Melissa McBride) conspired with Negan to infiltrate the Whisperers and bring her Alpha’s head, a deed Carol would reward by convincing the Alexandria council to grant Negan his freedom. But when Carol abandoned Negan at the Whisperer border to be alone, Negan was captured by Daryl when going to retrieve Alpha’s daughter Lydia (Cassady McClincy), who he used as bait to ambush and kill Alpha. The tables turned on Daryl when three stray Whisperers identified Negan as the new Alpha, who promptly took Daryl captive.

“Wait one damn minute. I’m supposed to be the Alpha, right? The only reason I’m asking is, I’m a little bit confused,” a smooth-talking Negan says when Daryl is taken prisoner. “If I’m the Alpha, why is someone who is most definitely not the Alpha holding the badass shotgun?”

The armed Whisperer hands over Alpha’s shotgun. “I never had a kid of my own, but if I did, I would imagine this is what it’s like holding your baby for the very first time. Except for it turns out, my baby can kill people by spitting bullets at them!”

Daryl refuses to kneel to the Alpha, so he’s forced to his knees. Staring down the barrel of the gun, Daryl growls, “You should probably shoot me.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” Negan says, swinging the shotgun out and blasting not-the-Alpha in the face. Daryl kicks himself away, taking a punch as Negan dodges a swipe from the third Whisperer. Out of ammo, Negan draws a knife, driving it into the head of the final attacker.

Daryl sticks out his hands: “Untie me, asshole.”

Reedus and Morgan hinted at their team up as far back as San Diego Comic-Con in July, where the stars debated whether a Daryl and Negan pairing would be called “Degan” or “Naryl.”

“I think the Whisperers are an enemy that’s all hands on deck, and I think that Daryl recognizes that,” Morgan told Entertainment Tonight. “I think that these two characters may find a little bit of common ground within this world, which is kinda fun. But just able to work with him this year, it’s been a long time, and we’ve never really worked together. So to have a couple scenes together has been a joy.”

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New episodes of The Walking Dead Season 10 premiere Sundays on AMC. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.