It’s Time for The Walking Dead to Unleash Negan Against the Whisperers

Amid shrinking ranks and mounting tensions stirred by the threatening presence of Samantha Morton's Alpha and her Whisperers, it's time for The Walking Dead to unleash Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan against the walker skin-wearing killers.

Now without Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Jesus (Tom Payne) and other capable fighters — including slain Whisperer victims Henry (Matt Lintz), Enid (Katelyn Nacon), Tara (Alanna Masterson) and former Savior DJ (Matt Mangum) — the united communities are in dire need of someone like Negan as the threat of the Whisperers rears its ugly head once again in Season 10.

As Morgan said in The Walking Dead Season 10 Preview Special, "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. 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."

Ross Marquand — whose Aaron is at one point partnered with an uncaged Negan, who now enjoys certain freedoms like supervised "yard time" during the day as part of his ongoing rehabilitation — similarly expects the conflict between the survivors and the Whisperers to take a turn for the worse.

"Season 10 is going to be, probably, a conclusion or a real battle between the Whisperers and all the communities, at some point, I would imagine," Marquand said on Talking Dead. "So I'm very excited. As someone who keeps up with the comics to some degree, I have my theories, but I don't know for sure."

Most willing to confirm a Negan team-up is Daryl Dixon star Norman Reedus, who was first to tease an unlikely pairing between Daryl and Negan at some point this season.

"I like what Jeffrey's doing with the character this year. It's a completely different character than we've seen before," Reedus said at San Diego Comic-Con in July. "I think there's a mutual understanding between those two characters. I think they might need each other at some point. It's such a weird world, 'cause some of the bad guys are the good guys, and the good guys are the bad guys, and everybody thinks they're doing the right thing. I mean, we've all killed people. We've all done crazy things, so maybe there will be a time where we need him."

Morgan previously admitted he would be "very disappointed" if Negan never clashes with Beta (Ryan Hurst), as he does in Robert Kirkman's comic books, where Negan played a pivotal role in the war against the Whisperers.

"I hope that those happen because as a fan of the comic I think they were very important moments," Morgan said earlier this year. "And as a fan of this character, I think they're very important for the Negan storyline."

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