‘The Walking Dead’ To Introduce Negan Soon: Why Norman Reedus’ Beloved Character Might Be In Danger [Spoilers]

The Walking Dead might be on the verge of introducing its biggest villain yet, sooner than expected, and this will likely end up being very bad news for one or more of the AMC series’ beloved characters. Be forewarned before reading on: spoilers about The Walking Dead are ahead.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Rick Grimes himself hinted that an infamous villain may pop up on TV sooner than he did in The Walking Dead comic books. Negan, a bulky bully who wields a bat wrapped with barbwire, doesn’t show up until issue 100. However, it sounds like The Walking Dead TV series writers have listened to the impatient pleading of comic book fans who can’t wait to meet Negan on TV.

“I would be very surprised if we don’t see Negan on the horizon in the not too distant future,” Andrew Lincoln told THR.

In the TV world, the “not too distant future” probably refers to this season or next season. However, The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman was singing a different tune early last year. According to Comicbook.com, Kirkman said that Negan might not show up until season 9.

There’s a possibility that Kirkman was just messing with Negan fanboys who desperately want to see the baddie bashing brains in and constantly cursing. Showrunner Scott Gimple told THR that the TV series will be changing up comic book timelines, so maybe Negan will make a surprise appearance before this season of The Walking Dead comes to an end.

According to Zap2it, Robert Kirkman continued to tease Negan fans during a recent appearance on the Comedy Central show @midnight. Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick asked Kirkman to come up with a “fake spoiler” for The Walking Dead, and he shared Negan’s comic book storyline instead.

“Eventually a character named Negan is introduced. He’s going to bash Glenn’s brains in with a baseball bat called Lucille.”

Maybe this truly was a fake spoiler for The Walking Dead TV series because the writers don’t plan on killing Glenn — there’s a very high likelihood that they’ll try to shock comic book fans by placing someone else at the end of Negan’s baseball bat.

Daryl Dixon is one candidate to become this key casualty. It’s no secret that Norman Reedus has a huge legion of obsessive fans who have threatened to riot if his character is killed off, so it would definitely be shocking to see Negan take him down. Some critics also think that Daryl Dixon has already outstayed his welcome. Last December, Comicbook.com writer Russ Burlingame penned an article titled “The Walking Dead: The Argument For Killing Daryl.”

“It really has been quite some time since the last truly surprising death, or the last character died who fans didn’t see coming a mile away,” Burlingame wrote. “Nobody believes Kirkman is serious when he says Daryl is fair game.”

Lately many Daryl Dixon storylines have been all about how the character deals with loss, and The Walking Dead writers seem to be pandering to fangirls who want to see more of his sensitive side. However, getting all emo will do the former lone wolf no favors when he’s forced to face off with a brutal foe like Negan.

Uproxx writer Dustin Rowles also has a few issues with Norman Reedus’ character. He writes that Daryl Dixon has been “sidelined” recently, and he thinks that the biggest problem with the redneck is that he’s not a character from the comic book. Because of this, he ends up stealing storylines from other characters like the recently-deceased Tyreese.

“Robert Kirkman continues to say that ‘no one is safe’ on The Walking Dead, but it may be that the riot which would ensue on Tumblr if Daryl dies is, in fact, keeping the job of Norman Reedus safe,” Rowles writes. “But for how much longer, and at what cost to the original comics’ storyline?”

If Scott Gimple and The Walking Dead writers keep seeing critiques like these, they might be tempted to kill Reedus’ character off simply to prove that Kirkman was telling the truth about no one being safe.

At least Norman Reedus fans can take comfort in knowing that he’ll make it to the season finale. However, as the Inquisitr previously reported, spoilers have revealed that Daryl will find himself in peril during a supply run. There’s speculation that he’ll run into “The Wolves” who terrorized Noah’s Shirewilt Estates home, but perhaps he’ll actually encounter “The Saviors” who serve Negan (perhaps The Wolves are The Saviors in The Walking Dead TV-verse).

Do you think The Walking Dead writers would even consider killing off Daryl Dixon during the season finale, or will Norman Reedus remain on the show as long as it remains on TV?

[Image credits: AMC via Facebook]