The Walking Dead’s Jeffrey Dean Morgan Wants Negan Lives Spinoff Movie

Negan actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan “would love to do” a spinoff movie inspired by Negan Lives, creator Robert Kirkman and artist Charlie Adlard’s one-off comic book revealing what happened to the villain turned anti-hero after his disappearance from The Walking Dead. The special issue, created to benefit comic book retailers impacted by coronavirus, is the second spinoff following the character outside the pages of the main Walking Dead comic book that concluded after 193 issues last July: a prequel, Here’s Negan, exposed the character’s origin story when Kirkman and Adlard revealed Negan’s journey from lone survivor to forceful leader of the Saviors.

Asked about Negan Lives and a potential movie adaptation during the virtual Walking Dead Family Hangout hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown, Morgan answered, “I loved it. I loved the idea of it that Kirkman and Charlie got together and did this to save comic book stores, these little shops, and then I loved the story.”

The story, set after his climactic encounter with a vengeful Maggie Rhee in The Walking Dead #174, follows Negan after he’s exiled by Rick Grimes in the wake of the Whisperer War. When Negan’s solitary but peaceful life is interrupted by a chance encounter with a woman named Lucy, he sets out to return to where his wife died and properly lay her to rest.

In The Walking Dead Season 10, Negan’s life sentence was commuted when Carol (Melissa McBride) sicced him on Whisperer leader Alpha (Samantha Morton). After spending nearly a decade behind bars, Negan will fight alongside the survivors when Beta (Ryan Hurst) engages the final battle of the Whisperer War in the coming season finale.

“I’m very lucky to play him, because he’s become so well-rounded, and this kind of redemption arc that he’s been on has been very interesting to play. And I think the Negan Lives comic book kind of carries that on,” Morgan said. “It’s a great little story, it’s just a little slice of a day in the life of [Negan]. It’s great, and I would love to. I always wanted to film that and then the prequel to Negan, there’s a comic book for that as well. I’d love to do that.”

Morgan added, “I don’t know if we’re ever going to get to it — there’s so much we don’t know about him — but keep writing him, Kirkman, and maybe we’ll get to it eventually, because they’re great.”

In 2018, Morgan revealed discussions with Walking Dead chief content officer Scott Gimple about bringing Here’s Negan to life outside the television show. Gimple is working with Kirkman on the franchise’s first feature film trilogy, where Morgan’s former co-star Andrew Lincoln returns to the Rick Grimes role.

Kirkman recently claimed he has “no plans” for a third Negan-centric comic, saying during a live-streamed Q&A, “I can’t say for sure that we’ll never do another Negan thing, or another Walking Dead universe thing, but there’s no plans to right now.”

For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter. The Walking Dead Season 10 finale, “A Certain Doom,” premieres Sunday, October 4 on AMC.