Negan (TV Series)

"Today was a productive damn day. Now, I hope for all your sake that you get it now. That you understand how things work. Things have changed. Whatever you had going for you, that is over now. (...) Welcome to a brand new beginning, you sorry shits."

- Negan to Rick Grimes and his group.

Negan (pronounced NEE-gan) is a main character, an antagonist, as well as a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead. He is the leader of the Saviors and serves as the primary antagonist of the second half of Season 6 and Season 7

Personality
"A physically imposing, charismatic, brutal, smart, ferocious, frightening, hilarious, inappropriate, oddly friendly, fun loving sociopath that is both a leader of men and a killer of men. He has both a practical and emotional intelligence, he's a brilliant strategist, he's pure, dangerous, murderous, is often gleeful, and yet still has both discipline and a code. He is known for having a temper that can mentally vaporize people. He truly has one of the strongest personalities ever."

Virginia
Almost nothing is known about Negan's life prior to the outbreak other than he was a used car salesman. He may have lived somewhere in or near the state of Virginia. He also seems to know some uncommon sports terminology.

Washington, D.C
At some point after the outbreak, Negan formed a group of survivors he named "The Saviors," which mainly consisted of thugs and bandits who operated under his command and fiercely ruled over. His group quickly gained a grim reputation for their ruthlessness and uncompromising methods.undefined Throughout the following months, Negan and his group gradually began to grow in size (consisting of over 100 survivors), upon where he appointed several lieutenants, including Simon, Wade, Paula and Bud; additionally, he established several outposts located throughout Washington D.C. where together they began to terrorize other survivors and communities, and subjugated them to his will.

Negan and his group soon discovered a community known as the Hilltop Colony. Immediately after the farming community's walls were built, Negan dispatched a group of Saviors; upon meeting the community leader, Gregory, the Saviors demanded half of the community's resources. In exchange, they promised not to destroy the community. Though the Hilltop was reluctant to comply, the Saviors showed their true motives by demonstrating their power, killing Rory, a 16 year-old boy, as a display of superiority.undefined

Season 6
Approximately 20 months into the apocalypse, a supply exchange was conducted between the Hilltop and the Saviors. When a group consisting of Ethan, Andy, Crystal, Craig, Tim and Marsha was sent to deliver their share of supplies, Negan personally felt unsatisfied with the amount he received, and thus had both Tim and Marsha executed and Craig imprisoned in one of the Saviors' several outposts. Negan ordered the remaining survivors to return to the Hilltop and, in exchange for Craig's release, kill Gregory and bring his head back as evidence of his death.

"Last Day on Earth"
After Rick Grimes's group is captured by the Saviors following several roadblocks and a failed diversion on the way to the Hilltop Colony, Negan steps out of their RV and confronts them, introducing himself as the Saviors' true leader. Pacing back and forth before the group, he lectures them on their actions against his group and the "new world order", explaining that Rick's people owe Negan's men their supplies and that he will personally deal with them if they refuse.

He goes on to inform Rick that he is keeping his group alive as he intends to make them work for him - however, in retribution for Rick and his people killing many Saviors, Negan warns that he will have to "beat the holy hell" out of one member of the group. He begins pacing up and down the line-up while considering his choice, and introduces Lucille, a wooden baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, as his weapon of choice. He threatens to put a visibly wrecked Maggie out of her misery, but Glenn lunges forward, only to be dragged back in line by Dwight. Negan then commands them not to attempt that again.

Unable to decide who to kill, Negan ultimately comes up with an idea and begins pointing at each survivor with Lucille, chanting "eeny, meeny, miny, moe". Going up and down the line-up, he eventually stops on one survivor at random - as this is seen from the victim's perspective, the identity of the survivor is left anonymous. As the rest of the group begins to yell in protest, Negan warns the group not to interfere, or he will cut Carl's other eye out, and feed it to Rick. He then brings the bat down hard on the victim's head, causing them to bleed heavily. Negan is seen standing over them as they recover from the first blow, remarking, "Look at that! Taking it like a champ!" before bringing the bat down again. As the person's vision goes to black, Negan is then heard mercilessly beating them repeatedly, with muffled screams and protests audible from the other members of Alexandria as the episode ends.

"The Day Will Come When You Won't Be"
After seeing Negan kill a member of his own party, Rick promises the Saviors' leader that he will kill him someday. Amused, Negan acts surprised by this declaration before inquiring Simon, his right-hand, about the weapons found on Rick's being, being informed that they had found a hatchet. Negan stresses to Rick the importance of having a right-hand man in his group, asking if he has/had one of his own. He then tells Simon to give him Rick's hatchet. Standing up, Negan grabs Rick by the collar and drags him to the RV, viciously announcing that he will be back and if Rick isn't with him, his men will have permission to kill the rest of Rick's gang.

He drives Rick's axe into the table before taunting Rick over the fact that he vowed to kill him. Negan takes note of the time of day, noticing that the sun is rising, before heading to the front of the vehicle. While having his back turned, Negan challenges Rick to grab the axe and drive it into the back of his head; Rick grabs the axe and lunges at Negan, who brandishes his assault rifle and knocks Rick to the floor.

Negan then drives the RV back to the roadblocks with the burning logs, parking under the overpass next to the hanging survivor, who has since turned. He then takes Rick's axe, assuming ownership of it, before throwing it on the roof of the RV, asking Rick to retrieve it. As Rick reluctantly obeys, Negan shoves him out of the vehicle into the herd of walkers that had accumulated in response to the flames. Rick makes it to the roof with difficulty, before becoming immobilized due to his memories of the events that occurred the previous night.

Flashing back to the line-up, Rick witnesses Negan make his selection, once again playing back his "eeny, meeny, miny, moe" chant. After a long pause, Negan then closes in, selecting Abraham as his victim. After threatening the rest of the group should they try to interfere, he brings Lucille crashing down on Abraham's head, drawing blood. Abraham reassumes his defiant posture, muttering "Suck my nuts" before Negan brings the bat down a second time, cracking his skull. Negan then proceeds to continuously beat his head to a bloody pulp, much to everyone shock.

Once he has finished Abraham off, he gleefully swings a bloody Lucille around, spattering some blood on Rick's face. After gloating to the group, he then strides over to Rosita, taunting her with Abraham's remains, before receiving a right hook from Daryl, who had had enough of his insensitivity. As he reels from the hit, Daryl is subdued by several of Negan's men, including Dwight. He quickly recovers and stops his men from bringing any harm to Daryl, deciding to let him live to see the consequences of his actions.

Negan reminds the survivors of his earlier warning that he would "shut down" any kind of insubordination without exception, and that he wants the group to know exactly who he is: a man of his word. He then suddenly turns, bringing Lucille down on Glenn twice, splitting his head and causing him to bleed heavily and nearly lose an eye. Negan bends over to observe Glenn's state, taunting his feeble attempts to speak and pointing out the grievous damage to his head. After hearing him utter his final words to Maggie, Negan then shows a hint of remorse, apologizing to the rest of the distraught group for the effect that Glenn's impending demise is having on them. However, after reminding them that he had said there would be no exceptions to his punishment, Negan swings Lucille into the side of Glenn's head, knocking him to the ground, before repeatedly beating his corpse until his head is nothing but flesh, bone, brains and blood, all the while taunting the remaining survivors. After finishing Glenn, he strolls over to the other survivors, asking if his "joke" was bad.

In the present, Negan informs Rick that while people die every day, his people do not have to if he would only conform to Negan's rule. Growing impatient with Rick's immobility, Negan gives him one last chance to retrieve his axe before firing several warning shots through the roof of the RV, causing Rick to spring to action and grab hold of the hanging survivor, losing the axe in the process. Just when hope seems lost for Rick, who is almost completely lowered into the hungry herd, Negan shoots down all of the walkers in Rick's area, saving him, before leading him back to the RV. He continues to taunt Rick, declaring that more of his people will die if he continues to act defiant. Rick retrieves the axe and makes it through the dense smoke to the RV, but finds it locked, Negan having locked him outside to further test and torture him. At the last moment, Negan puts down the incoming walkers and allows Rick entry. Rick begrudgingly hands the axe over to Negan, who commends him on his efforts.

Driving back to the clearing, Negan once again gleefully mocks Rick and the deaths of his group members. After cleaning the axe with a blanket and Rick's jacket, Negan hands him the axe, excitedly telling him that he has a good feeling that Rick will need it. Rick reluctantly takes the weapon, before he is forcefully dragged out of the RV and back to the group. Negan then questions Rick on whether or not he knew the purpose of the trip they had taken. He explains that he was attempting to break Rick into complying with Negan's way of living, as he saw defiance in his eyes, and defiance would only result in more conflict. He declares that Rick has failed the test and asks if he should give him another chance. Negan then commences a final test of compliance, asking for guns to be drawn to the back of each survivor's head, specifically aimed in a way that the bullet would exit through their noses, creating a "real mess".

Negan then orders an angered Carl to walk forward. He then ties his belt around Carl's left arm as a tourniquet, asking Carl if he is left-handed (both in sports terminology and in a literal sense), to which he replies that he isn't. Once he has tied the tourniquet around his arm, Negan asks Carl to lay next to Rick, ordering him to "spread them wings". After acquiring a pen from Simon, he then marks a black line across Carl's forearm. Noticing Rick's pleas to not go through with what he believes he is planning to do, Negan turns to him before confirming that he "ain't doing shit".

Standing up, Negan orders Rick to pick up the hatchet and chop Carl's arm off at the marked line, giving specific directions on how to make the cut to ensure that the Saviors' doctor can properly seal the wound later. Negan threatens to kill the group, Carl, all of the Alexandrian citizens and, eventually, Rick if he does not comply. Michonne attempts to come to Carl's defense, saying that the group is subjugated; Negan brushes this claim off, saying that while the group may understand how the world now works, Rick does not. Noticing that Rick is indecisive, Negan then threatens to beat Carl the same way he did Glenn and Abraham if he does not make a decision. Rick attempts to do everything in his power to avoid mutilating his son, even going so far as to offer himself up to Negan in Carl's place, but he is rejected. Seeing that Rick is showing extreme hesitance, Negan grows impatient and begins to count down from 3, causing Rick to panic and wail. As Negan reaches 1, Rick picks up and raises the axe above his head, ready to bring it down on Carl's arm, before he is stopped at the last second.

Negan declares to Rick that he answers to, provides for and belongs to him. When he sees that Rick is compliant but silent, Negan angrily grapples him, yelling that he should speak when spoken to, before repeating his commands for Rick to properly acknowledge. Seeing that he has finally broken Rick and that he is now submissive to his rule, Negan cheerfully declares this to be a productive day, thanking the rest of the group, including the now-deceased, for their participation. Negan then orders for Daryl to be taken back with them as a prisoner, informing Rick that any further insubordination will result in the mutilation of Daryl, either by his or Rick's hand. Before leaving, Negan leaves a truck with the survivors for them to cart the supplies they owe the Saviors in the following week. He welcomes the group into his new order, warning them to never try to betray him, before leaving them in shambles, giving them a final "ta-ta" before returning with his men to their base.

"The Cell"
Negan first appears wandering around the Sanctuary’s garden area. Dwight, among other Saviours in the area, kneel before Negan as he passes.

Negan later approaches Dwight, who has Daryl in custody, and encourages him to be pulled aside for a talk. Once Daryl is secured back in his cell, Negan discusses their efforts in trying to break him with Dwight. As a reward, Negan offers Dwight to sleep with one of his wives with Sherry being the first option. However, Dwight declines. Negan is slightly angered by Dwight’s refusal but allows him to follow through on his choice. When news of an escaped worker comes over Dwight’s radio, Dwight offers to go to which Negan accepts.

Negan and some of his men later corner Daryl who was attempting to escape from the Sanctuary. Negan reprimands Daryl’s attempt at escaping a failure and presents him with three options: Daryl either becomes a walker for the Sanctuary’s fence line, earn points or work alongside Negan with beneficial privileges. Daryl doesn’t reply. Negan swings Lucille at Daryl, stopping just short of hitting him, but Daryl doesn’t flinch. Negan notes and is intrigued by Daryl’s resolve in that he cannot be “scared easy” despite his dire circumstances. Negan leaves while his men restrain Daryl and return him to his cell.

Dwight having returned from his mission, wakes Daryl and leads him to an efficiency apartment where Negan awaits. Negan explains to Daryl how Dwight became one of his top men. Dwight, Sherry and her sister (Tina) used to work for points. When Tina fell behind on points, on account of her costly medication, he asked her to marry him. Dwight, Sherry and Tina stole the medicine and ran away.

They returned after Tina’s death. Dwight asked for forgiveness and begged Negan not to kill Sherry. Sherry offered to marry Negan if he spared Dwight’s life. He agreed — after burning Dwight’s face with an iron. Dwight has been on board ever since.

Negan tells Daryl he can be one of his top men and he can live in this apartment. “All you’ve got to do, is answer one, simple question: "Who are you?” Negan asks Daryl. “Who are you?” he asks again. After a long silence, Daryl responds with his own name. Negan orders Dwight to return Daryl to his cell.

"Service"
Negan will appear in this episode.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Negan has killed:
 * Rory (Caused)
 * Marsha (Caused or Direct)
 * Tim (Caused or Direct)
 * Ethan (Indirectly Caused)
 * Abraham Ford
 * Glenn Rhee
 * Numerous counts of zombies and unnamed people (Caused and Direct)

Relationships
{{Scroll-1|

Dwight
While it is unconfirmed why Dwight and his wife fled from the Saviors, he likely fled because of Negan's frightening ways of leadership. When he and Honey are somehow caught, Negan possibly punished Dwight by burning the left side of his face, either by himself directly or by his men. Their relationship has presumably been severed from than on. However, it is assumed that Negan still trusts Dwight somehow, since Dwight led a group of the Saviors deep into the woods, and likely became one of his high ranking members.

In "Last Day On Earth" Dwight is shown to be very loyal to Negan, going as far as almost killing Glenn for desperately jumping towards Negan in fear of Maggie dying. Negan orders Dwight to get Glenn back in line, which he does without question.

Simon
Simon is Negan's right hand man, and the two have a strong relationship as Simon is one of the principal people Negan uses to solve his problems, being given the task of capturing both a runaway thief and an RV in one day. Simon was mostly in charge of blockading each route to from Alexandria to the Hilltop with obstacles, walkers, and Saviors, ensuring that Rick Grimes and his group would not reach safety. He clearly has some authority in the group, and considering how the Saviors are led by a single man, showing how much Negan trusts him.

Gregory
Gregory is shown to be fearful of Negan and becomes submissive to his demands, giving him half of his community supplies, after Negan and the Saviors killed a member from the Hilltop. Negan takes advantage of Gregory's cowardice and begins demanding more supplies. After some time, he can't keep up to the amount that Negan wants, so Negan kidnaps Craig and sends Ethan to kill Gregory for failing to follow his orders. After the attempt of taking Gregory's life fails, the leader of the Hilltop decides to make a deal with Rick Grimes's group to eliminate Negan and the Saviors once and for all.

Rick Grimes
"You are mine. The people back there -- they are mine."

- Negan declaring his ownership of Rick and his people. Upon being informed of Negan, Rick clearly despises him for the actions he has committed both towards that of his group as well as the Hilltop Colony, following this Rick personally organized his group to kill Negan on behalf of the group's survival as well as that of the Hilltop Colony. Rick also expressed a vengeful willingness to find him. However upon being captured by The Saviors alongside his group during his first personal encounter with Negan, Rick displays immense fear of his wrath and superiority. Negan clearly despises Rick for killing his men and personally kills an both Glenn and Abraham in revenge for his actions. Following this, Rick promises Negan that he will kill him someday. Negan is amused and surprised by Rick's threat.

Carl Grimes
Upon encountering Carl for the first time, Negan takes an immediate interest with the child. Carl however shows nothing but anger and hatred for him, something that impresses Negan. When he gives a speech to the group, unlike the rest of the group including his own father, Negan bends his knees in front of Carl to talk to him, showing he somehow respects him. When he learns that Carl is Rick's son, he further taunts that he wishes not to kill the "little future serial killer". After picking up the Lucille victim, he warns the group to not interfere least he will bring more harm by cutting Carl's other eye and feed it to his father. Carl then witnesses the brutal death of Abraham followed by Glenn at the hands of Negan. Later he is brought upfront by Negan who unbuckles his belt and uses it to tie Carl's left arm. Negan then forces him to lay on the ground, draws a line on his arm and forces a fear stricken Rick to chop Carl's arm who lays helplessly terrified. When Rick is about to do so, Negan halts him, telling him that he has proven his point.

Abraham Ford
Negan was slightly intimidated by Abraham and felt it was too dangerous to keep the larger man alive. After being captured by Negan and his Saviors, unlike the rest of the members, Abraham shows completely no fear in facing them. When Negan stands and glances right at him, Abraham continues to stare at him which slightly amuses Negan before remarking that he needs to “shave his shit”. After simply unable to decide who to kill, Abraham then watches Negan who is chanting "eeny, meeny, miney, moe" and walking one person to another while pointing his bat to them before finally picking Abraham. After warning them not to interfere, Negan then slams the bat to Abraham’s head, causing him to bleed heavily. Before his death, Abraham utters “suck my nuts” to Negan, who then proceeds to bash his head several more times, completely mutilating his head before mocking his last words.

Glenn Rhee
Negan and Glenn hardly know each other but Negan shows amusement for him after Glenn desperately tries to intervene him from harming Maggie. He warns them all not to do that again or he will “shut down that shit, no exceptions”. After Negan finally picks Abraham as the Lucille victim, Glenn watches in horror as Abraham is smashed by Negan to death. After Daryl retaliates Negan for taunting Rosita, Negan teaches the group another brutal lesson by hitting Glenn in the same fashion as Abraham and remarking his earlier statement he told to the group that insubordination would be pardoned but any other would be halted with no exceptions. He further taunts Glenn’s mutilated face who is barely trying to speak to Maggie before delivering more blows to his head. His head is totally destroyed.

Maggie Greene
In Last Day On Earth after capturing Rick Grimes’ group, Negan teases Maggie with some rude remarks and calls her “shitty” without knowing she is actually sick. He then threatens to kill her before a desperate Glenn tries to intervene only to be halted by Dwight. She then watches in shock as Abraham is bludgeoned to death by Negan. Things become worse. After Daryl attacks Negan by punching him in the face, Negan teaches them all another brutal lesson by hitting Glenn with Lucille in the head, mutilating his head. An already broken Maggie watches in sorrow as Glenn, who’s on the verge of death, tells her that he will “find” her. Upon hearing his words, Negan shows slight remorse and that he’s sorry before reminding them “no exceptions” and proceeds to brutally end him.

Rosita Espinosa
Like most, Rosita shows fear for Negan after being captured by him and his Saviors. After learning the Lucille victim turns out to be Abraham, she is shocked and heartbroken after Negan mercilessly beats him to death. Right after killing Abraham, Negan senses they were together and taunts her by forcing her to look at his bat, now covered in Abraham’s blood. This prompts Daryl to stand up and attack Negan only to be subdued by two Saviors. As a result, Negan then kills Glenn in the same fashion as Abraham as Rosita watches in horror and sadness.

Daryl Dixon
At first Negan does not show any sort of interest in Daryl. Though he is aware that Daryl and Dwight share hostile rivalry. When Daryl punches Negan after killing Abraham and taunting Rosita. Negan is shocked and impressed but as punishment Negan uses Lucille to bash down Glenn's head into peaces. Much to Daryls horror and sadness. Still impressed by his bravery. Negan orders Dwight to capture Daryl.}}

Season 6

 * "Last Day on Earth"

Season 7

 * "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be"
 * "The Cell"
 * "Service"

Trivia

 * Negan is the fourth major recurring antagonist in the TV Series, the first being Shane Walsh, the second being The Governor, and the third being Gareth.
 * Henry Rollins, who partially inspired the character's design, auditioned for the role. However it was ultimately handed down to Jeffrey Dean Morgan instead.
 * Negan's signature weapon is a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire he calls "Lucille".
 * Upon describing the character, Kirkman stated that "Negan is kind of an atomic bomb that's going to be dropped onto the show and the show will probably never be the same after that".
 * Negan's outfit was designed by costume designer Eulyn Womble, who custom made his jacket, belt and hand wraps in order to specifically match his comic book counterpart.
 * Through both Molly and Primo's expression, Negan is implied to be some kind of a cult leader.
 * Upon discussing Negan's foul-mouthed nature, Jeffery Dean Morgan stated: "We're going to push AMC- the plan is to push them as far as they can because it's who Negan is. He uses some colorful language. And I use some colorful language. And reading the comic, it's important. So we'll see where that lands. It's our intention that this character is going to leap off the pages of the comic book. It's very important that that's who it is. Some of the characters there's much more leeway, but Negan is a guy that you want to keep as true as possible, and that would be how I want to play him as well."
 * Negan's first appearance in "Last Day on Earth" featured no use of the word "fuck", and Negan's general language was kept tame. However, in the DVD and Blu-Ray release of Season 6, his debut was partially a re-shot, featuring speech almost identical to his comic counterpart.
 * According to Robert Kirkman, he expressed that Negan and Rick share several similarities as the pair have even been desribed as 'two sides of the same coin, only Negan's moral compass is a little more out of whack'.
 * Negan has killed the fifth largest amount of living characters on the TV show with at least 26, while Daryl has the fourth largest with at least 27, Carol has the third largest with at least 37, Rick has the second largest with at least 40, and the Governor has the largest with over 50.
 * In an interview with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, upon being questioned regarding any insight into Negan's backstory, he elaborated that Kirkman is creating a prequel story solely dedicated to the character titled Here's Negan. Morgan expressed hope of divulging into this, however nothing is confirmed as of yet.