The Walking Dead: Negan Preaches to a Priest in Newest Season 10 Clip

A clip from The Walking Dead Season 10 aired on Conan shows a jailed Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) confessing worries to keeper Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) that the Alexandrians will soon categorize him as a threat alongside the resurfaced Whisperers.

"It's starting," Negan tells a stressed and impatient Gabriel, who has his own responsibilities to his girlfriend, new mother Rosita (Christian Serratos), one corner of the "love quadrangle" helping raise baby Coco.

"Gaby boy, why don't you just nestle in below me and let me baby bird a little bit of my wisdom into that pretty little mouth of yours. See, people tend to get mixed up on about who they hate," Negan says. "Yesterday, I was public enemy number one. Now I'm the guy who picks vegetables and takes out the trash. I'm okay with that — for now, at least. But until this whole thing passes, I'm gonna keep my head down so people don't move me from the proverbial 'semi-us' category to the category of 'them.'"

Gabriel, always attempting to keep the peace, tells Negan that's "not what's happening here."

"I didn't say it is. I said that it will," Negan says. "See, the bogeyman just stuck his gnarly, skin-covered mask out from behind that closet door, and people are putting their shittin' pants back on."

Negan's growing concerns come amid a rising paranoia spreading through Alexandria, now forced to abide by the laws and borders imposed by Alpha (Samantha Morton).

With Gabriel's help, Negan reformed through years of solitary confinement and a close friendship with the plucky Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming), but his newfound freedoms — picking tomatoes and other chores performed while under supervised release from his cell — come with side-eye glances from distrustful Alexandrians.

As Morgan tells it, Negan really has changed. Now the former villain wants the chance to prove himself to his fellow 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 TWD Season 10 Preview Special when calling for Negan to be unleashed against the Whisperers. "Will our group be open to that? I mean, honestly, I don't know what's in [showrunner] Angela [Kang] 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. Just give him the chance."

The Walking Dead Season 10 premieres Sunday, Oct. 6 at 9/8c on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.