Hilarie Burton Comments on Joining Husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan’s Wife in The Walking Dead

Here’s Lucille. Hilarie Burton will join husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan on The Walking Dead, where she plays Negan’s beloved wife in one of the six new season 10 bonus episodes now in production for AMC. The guest star, a part of the Walking Dead Family since Morgan bashed his way into the zombie drama in 2016, appears on the show for the first time as the real-life Lucille — Negan’s cancer-stricken wife behind his trademark weapon, a barbwire-wrapped baseball bat, named in her honor. Responding to a story first reported by ComicBook.com, Burton writes it has been “pretty hard to keep this a secret”:

“I love working with @JDMorgan. I love watching him become #Negan and take on that swagger,” the actress writes on Twitter. “And I love the @TheWalkingDead family. They’ve been a part of our family for ages and I’m so grateful for their kindness. Xoxo #hereslucille.”

Showrunner Angela Kang teased Negan’s origin story during a virtual Walking Dead showrunners summit in October, where she said the extended season 10 would bring to life a comic book story that “fans have been waiting for for a long time.”

Creators Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard reveal Negan’s backstory in the 16-chapter miniseries Here’s Negan, where the foul-mouthed gym coach ends an affair with his mistress when Lucille is diagnosed with cancer. Weeks later, Negan is with his wife as she succumbs to her illness at the onset of the zombie apocalypse.

Negan has referenced Lucille several times when divulging pieces of his history in The Walking Dead. In season 8 episode “The Big Scary U,” Negan confesses to Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) about cheating on his wife and failing to put her to rest when she turned, and later admits to Michonne (Danai Gurira) that Lucille “wasn’t made for” surviving in the apocalypse.

When confronted by a vengeful Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan) in “What Comes After,” Negan pleads for death so that he can be with his wife, but Maggie decides instead to let him rot away in jail. In season 10, Negan says Lucille died from pancreatic cancer when confiding in Alpha (Samantha Morton) moments before he kills the Whisperer leader.

Burton and Morgan are the hosts of video-chat talk show Friday Night In with The Morgans for AMC, a virtual get-together created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The show features appearances from past and present Walking Dead Family stars, including Michael Cudlitz, Christian Serratos, Colman Domingo, Sonequa Martin-Green, Samantha Morton, and Sarah Wayne-Callies.

Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for all things TWD. The Walking Dead returns with new episodes early 2021 on AMC.

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