‘The Walking Dead’: Jeffrey Dean Morgan Cast As Negan

The Walking Dead has officially cast their Negan. Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan has joined the hit AMC show as it’s most anticipated character and villain. If you thought The Governor was bad, just wait until you meet Negan!

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Jeffrey Dean Morgan beat out other actors such as Matt Dillon, Timothy Olyphant, Garret Dillahunt, and others who were in the running to play The Walking Dead‘s most evil villain, Negan.

Sources reveal that the character of Negan will first arrive in The Walking Dead Season 6 finale. Negan is the violent leader of a group called The Saviors who like to take over other communities such as Alexandria. In the comic books, Negan first appears in the 100th issue, when he meets Rick Grimes, and those who have read the graphic novels know that Negan makes The Governor look tame.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan will join The Walking Dead as a guest star in Season 6 before being promoted to a series regular in Season 7. In the comic book series, Negan is most known for killing the beloved character of Glenn Rhee with his weapon of choice, a baseball bat covered in barbed wire which he has named Lucille, and carries with him at all times. Negan has become the comic’s main villain and is still alive as of issue 145.

As fans of The Walking Dead television show know, the character of Glenn may not survive to meet his maker at the hands of Negan. Currently, the fate of Glenn Rhee is unknown. As of Episode 3 of Season 6, he appeared to be attacked and devoured by walkers. Nothing has been mentioned of him yet. However, fans are looking forward to finding out exactly what happened to Glenn, and are hoping that he is still alive. There is a theory that the man who Glenn was with at the time of the walker attack, Nicholas, is actually the person viewers saw being torn apart by zombies, and that Glenn hopefully found some way to escape.

Meanwhile, in the most recent episode of The Walking Dead, Glenn’s wife, Maggie, revealed some very big news. Maggie, who went out to search for Glenn with fellow Alexandria citizen, Aaron, admitted that she was pregnant with Glenn’s baby. Things are getting so crazy for Glenn and Maggie, as Glenn could possibly be dead, Maggie is pregnant, and Negan, the character who kills Glenn in the comic books, is on his way in the very near future. Add all the drama to the wolves and huge herd of walkers outside the gates of Alexandria, and it seems like the worst timing ever for Maggie to be carrying a child and be without her husband.

So – how do we feel about Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan? #TheWalkingDead #ButWhereIsGlenn? https://t.co/YOrXoqejEd pic.twitter.com/U21KM6tIZx

— Comicbook.com (@ComicBook) November 10, 2015

If Glenn is still alive somehow, why would The Walking Dead fake kill him just to turn around and have him die at the hands of Negan next season, and if he is dead, will someone else get Glenn’s comic book death? The show has been known to switch up famous deaths from the comics and give them to other characters on the series. For example, in the comic books Tyreese is beheaded by The Governor, and on the show it is Hershel who suffers that fate. Perhaps another character will get brutally beaten to death by Negan’s deadly weapon, Lucille. Fans are already speculating on who that could be, and unfortunately for Abraham, his name seems to keep coming up.

Sadly enough, Darly Dixon’s name is also being mentioned in the speculation. Could Negan actually kill Daryl with Lucille, the barbed wire-covered baseball bat? Fans would go absolutely crazy if Daryl were to die, and to die that violent of a death? The internet may break!

What are your thoughts on Jeffrey Dean Morgan being cast as Negan on The Walking Dead?

[Photo by Jason Merritt / Getty Images]