The Walking Dead’s Jeffrey Dean Morgan Teases Negan’s Return After Final Season: "He's Not Gonna Go Away"

The end of The Walking Dead will not be the end of Negan: actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan says his fan-favorite character could return in a movie or television spin-off. After revealing Negan's origin story and his tragic love story with wife Lucille (guest star Hilarie Burton Morgan) in the extended Season 10 finale, "Here's Negan," AMC Networks gauged viewer interest in additional episodes or series exploring Negan's backstory before he meets Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his group of survivors on The Walking Dead. Morgan later confirmed a Negan spin-off is "definitely being talked about" as AMC's flagship series heads into its eleventh and final season airing this summer on the network.

"I live in Georgia with this [Walking Dead] family for seven, eight months of the year, every year, and then usually I'm with Norman [Reedus] doing press somewhere in the world for another couple months. I'll very much miss this being part of my life," Morgan told CinePOP while promoting his new Sam Raimi-produced horror movie The Unholy. "So we'll see. It's gonna be the end of Negan as we know him on The Walking Dead, but we may see Negan again down the line somewhere else. Maybe in movie theaters, and maybe on the small screen again."

"We're talking about all sorts of things [for Negan]," added Morgan, a Walking Dead regular since its Season 6 finale in 2016. "He's not gonna go away, I don't think."

Morgan has been interested in taking a swing at a Negan film or spin-off for the half-decade he's starred on The Walking Dead, including a story inspired by a one-shot comic book from Negan creators Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard. Negan Lives takes place after Negan leaves the Walking Dead comic book, which released its final issue in July 2019.

A Negan spin-off is "definitely being talked about," Morgan recently said on Conan. "I think they're thinking of a couple different ideas, but I've definitely had conversations about possibly continuing the story of Negan. You know, we just did the 'Here's Negan' story, which is sort of the prequel [of] how Negan became this guy, and I shot that with my wife which was so cool. It was awesome. We had so much fun, and I think the episode turned out really well."

Announced Walking Dead spin-offs include the feature film trilogy starring Lincoln's Rick Grimes, expected to begin filming this year for release in theaters; an untitled sequel TV series following Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) on the road; Tales of the Walking Dead, an anthology series that will tell new stories with old characters; and the second and final season of limited event spin-off series TWD: World Beyond.

Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for all things TWD. The Final Season of The Walking Dead begins Sunday, August 22, on AMC.