The Walking Dead Negan Prequel Reveals New Look at Hilarie Burton Morgan’s Lucille

A new look at The Walking Dead's extended Season 10 reveals a locked-and-loaded Lucille (Hilarie Burton Morgan) ahead of her debut in "Here's Negan." In the prequel episode flashing back to the onset of the zombie apocalypse, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his cancer-stricken wife hunker down in a basement bunker stocked with Lucille's multi-colored wigs and a dwindling supply of chemotherapy drugs. More than a decade after Lucille succumbs to her illness, living on in as a barbwire-wrapped baseball bat named in her honor, Carol (Melissa McBride) takes Negan on a journey that causes him to reflect on his past — and come to a conclusion about his future.

"For the Negan fans, we're going to do our version of the comic book story 'Here's Negan,' and Lucille is going to be played by JDM's real-life wife, Hilarie Burton Morgan. And they're amazing together," showrunner Angela Kang said when previewing the Negan prequel during December's Walking Dead Holiday Special. "So I'm really excited for everyone to see our various people getting to shine."

The One Tree Hill actress and first-time Walking Dead guest star, who acts with her husband for the first time in "Here's Negan," previously called the episode's week-long shoot "really f*cking fun."

"This month I've gotten to act with my husband @jeffreydeanmorgan for the first time in our life together. We've raised kids and run a farm, done charities and bought a candy store together. We've hosted [Friday Night In With the Morgans]," Burton Morgan wrote in an Instagram post in November. "We've even worked on the same show — Extant — just never in any scenes together. And when I tell you it has been a JOY, I'm saying it with tears in my eyes."

And former Walking Dead showrunner Scott Gimple, who introduced Negan in the Season 6 finale, calls the prequel one of the show's finest episodes.

The episode was "was always in the cards" but the coronavirus pandemic "sped it up a bit," Gimple previously told Insider. "If anybody saw that episode, they wouldn't think that because it's one of the most brilliant episodes that the show has done... This got accelerated. This was something we were looking at, but it's going to be an amazing episode. I'm so proud of everybody who worked on that one. I'm proud of the entire season. They shot six episodes in six weeks."

Episode 1022, "Here's Negan," acts as the 10C season finale when it airs Sunday, April 4, on AMC.

Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for all things TWD. The Walking Dead returns to AMC with new episodes on Sunday, February 28.