‘The Walking Dead’: Will Morgan Jones Replace Daryl Dixon, And Will Jon Hamm Play Negan?

The Walking Dead executive producer Gale Anne Hurd teased that the reappearance of Morgan Jones (Lennie James) is really going to shake up the survivors’ group dynamic during season 6. So is Morgan the right-hand man that Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) needs right now? Will he replace Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus)? And will he and Rick face off against Negan played by Jon Hamm?

During a recent interview with Moviepilot, Gale Anne Hurd talked about what’s next for Morgan Jones on The Walking Dead. The zombie-clearing hermit seems to be in a much better place now, and his few interactions with people during the season 5 finale seem to indicate that he has a more positive outlook on life. In fact, he told Daryl Dixon that “all life is precious,” and he didn’t even kill those pesky Wolves after they tried to kill him.

Hurd chatted about how Morgan Jones’s presence in Alexandria will affect the group after she was asked whether the survivors will leave the community to head to Washington D.C.

“I can’t talk about where they head but I can say whenever the group adds new characters to their core, it changes the dynamic. So with the re-introduction of Morgan, we’re going to see the dynamic change.”

Hurd described Morgan Jones as a “Zen warrior,” which is evidenced by the way the zombie Jedi deftly wields his sturdy stick like Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Speaking of which, The Walking Dead is getting pretty close to creating its own spin on the TMNT gang with its motley group of weapons — Morgan has his staff, Michonne (Danai Gurira) has her katana, Rick Grimes has his red-handled machete, and Daryl Dixon used chains like nunchuks during the season finale.

Unfortunately, The Walking Dead‘s fearsome foursome probably won’t be spending a lot of time together — Daryl will be too busy working on his bromance with Aaron to spend a lot of time with Rick. This is where Morgan Jones comes in.

During The Walking Dead season finale, Rick Grimes proved that he was right about needing to kill Pete, but he definitely mishandled the situation by getting in that fight and freaking out to the point that Michonne had to bonk him on the head. Michonne won’t be able to control Rick herself, Daryl won’t be around to help her, and Carol is currently acting like the devil on Rick’s shoulder whispering in his ear — she’s dangerously close to taking things too far and pushing Rick to go full Shane. As Walking Dead fans have found out, going full Shane is not a good idea.

Hurd pointed out that Morgan Jones has “eschewed violence,” so perhaps he’ll have a calming effect on Rick Grimes. Rick is still in super survival mode, and he’s very capable of making some very bad decisions. Morgan is more of a deep thinker than Rick’s old right-hand man, and, unlike Daryl Dixon, Morgan won’t just take orders — he’ll likely make Rick look at other options before taking action.

Now that Morgan is in town, he and Rick Grimes need a formidable foe to face together. Obviously, the nutty Wolves will have to be dealt with, and a zombie horde might be on its way. However, Morgan’s survival skills will really come in handy whenever The Walking Dead‘s most notorious comic book villain finally makes his appearance on the TV series. If Negan is coming next season, Morgan might need to get busy building a few of his deadly booby traps around Alexandria’s walls.

Fans of The Walking Dead are dying to know who will be cast as Negan, and whether the villain will make an appearance during season 6. There’s been no confirmation that the character will pop up next season, but there could already be a frontrunner for the Negan role. As MTV News points out, Robert Kirkman did once say that Jon Hamm would perfect for the part, and the Mad Men star is currently looking for more work. Whenever MTV informed Jon that he’s one of Kirkman’s top picks for the role, he jokingly responded by saying, “Robert, call me!” In the clip below, he also talks about how much fun it would be to wield that baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.

The Walking Dead won’t return until October, so fans probably won’t get any Negan news anytime soon. However, maybe Fear the Walking Dead will introduce an equally-badass villain. As the Inquisitr previously reported, the spin-off show will hit the small screen later this summer.

How do you think Morgan Jones will change the group’s dynamic on The Walking Dead?

[Image credit: Gene Page/AMC]