The Walking Dead's Michael Cudlitz: Putting Negan Through the Wringer Would Be “Fun to Watch”

The Walking Dead star turned director Michael Cudlitz isn't out for revenge after Jeffrey Dean [...]

The Walking Dead star turned director Michael Cudlitz isn't out for revenge after Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan killed his character, fan-favorite former U.S. Army Sergeant Abraham Ford, but putting Negan through the wringer "would be fun to watch." After Abe was killed off alongside Glenn (Steven Yeun) in the Season 7 premiere, Cudlitz returned to the zombie drama as director on Season 9 episode "Stradivarius" and Season 10 episodes "Silence the Whisperers" and "Open Your Eyes." The former ended with Negan missing from his jail cell while awaiting a vote determining if he would be executed over the accidental death of Margo (Jerri Tubbs), who was killed when Negan saved former Whisperer Lydia (Cassady McClincy) from a vicious beating.

While answering fan-submitted questions during a remote appearance on Friday Night In with The Morgans, hosted by the Negan actor and wife Hilarie Burton Morgan, the director was asked if he would ever want to "put Negan through the wringer" for revenge against Abraham's killer:

"No. No. I want to put him through the wringer because it would be fun to watch, but not for revenge," Cudlitz said with a laugh. "That's the thing, is that people ask this question a lot when we do panels and stuff at conventions and they ask, 'What was the hardest scene you've ever done?' We loved that. When you guys think, 'that was so hard,' we love being emotionally available and going through things that we haven't gone through before, or things that we have gone through before in a different way with amazing scene partners."

Dramatic and emotionally heavy scenes like Abraham and Glenn's deaths are "our dessert," Cudlitz added. "Getting put through the wringer, as you guys would think, that's like a day at Disneyland for us."

Negan killing Abraham is a scene Morgan will never forget, and those who knew Abe — including Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Abraham's ex-lover Rosita (Christian Serratos) — might have similar trouble forgetting what Negan did years earlier.

"Negan is always complicated, and he has been on this interesting road where he's trying to fold into our group and they clearly didn't kick him out of the group, but I think depending on the person, they're going to have a very different interpretation of events and how they feel about him," showrunner Angela Kang said in a recent interview about Negan's attempt to assimilate into the group amid a war with the Whisperers. "But, for now, they're all just trying to make it through."

The Walking Dead will air its Season 10 finale as a special episode on AMC later this year. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.

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