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 possibly 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. 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.

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, miney, 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 Savior's leader that he will kill him someday. Amused, Negan acts surprised by this declaration before telling Simon, his right-hand, to give him Rick's axe. He then stands, 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 the axe into the table and keeps taunting Rick about the fact that Rick vowed to kill him. He kept pushing Rick to grab the axe and drive it in the back of his skull. Right when Rick was about to swing the axe at him, Negan pulls out an Assault rifle and knocks Rick on the floor. Negan then drives the RV out to one of the roadblocks with the burning wood and the man that was hung. He then takes Rick's axe and says that he owns it. Afterwards he throws it on the roof and asks Rick to get it. He throws Rick into a pile of walkers and laughed. When Rick makes it to the roof, he starts having flashbacks on what happened back with the group.

We then see everything through Rick's eyes. The audience then relives the "eenie,meenie,miney,moe," selection. He lands on Abraham and without hesitating, gives everyone a warning not to interfere. He proceeds to bash Abraham's skull in. After the first hit, Abraham stands up tall with blood coming down his forehead and mutters "Suck...my...nuts". Negan then bashes Abraham some more and once Abraham dies, he continues to beat his corpse until his head is nothing but flesh,bone, brains, and blood.

He then mocks Abraham after he is finished and swings the bloody Lucille around, having some of it flown across Rick's face. He then walks around the group to show them the bloody bat. He stops at Rosita and figures that they were together. He then says that what happened tonight, happened for a reason. He then starts screaming at Rosita and taunting him about Abraham. Daryl couldn't take it anymore so he gets up with the little strength has and throws a hard punch across Negan's face. After some saviors subdued him, Negan says that an outburst like that was not allowed and that there will be a punishment.

Dwight steps in and asks Negan if he wants him to kill Daryl. Negan makes Dwight stand down and have the saviors drag Daryl back to the lineup. He then let's everyone know that he is a man of his word and will not say something he doesn't mean. So as punishment, he looks over and without hesisating, he slams the bat down on Glenn's head. Everyone starts crying even more. Glenn's skull cracked open a bit and his eye popped out. Negan commented saying "You're eye just popped right out! It's gross as shit!". When Glenn says his final words to Maggie, Negan shows a little remorse but he reminds the group that he said "no exceptions" and proceeds to brutally finish of Glenn. Afterwards he mocks the brutality of the deaths, saying that Lucille is a vampire bat and the deaths quenched her thirst for blood. Seeing that no one laughed at his joke he walks back to Rick and asks him if it was that bad.

Back in the present Negan tells Rick that everyone dies eventually, but that by obeying him he can save those he loves as not all of them have to die. Then he orders him again to bring him 'his' axe. Seeing that Rick is to traumatized by the recollection of the deaths to move, Negan starts firing warning shots at the roof, forcing Rick to jump and grab the hanging walker to not fall to the horde. Then he, noticing Rick was about to fall and die, starts to shoot and kill the walkers in the area. Once Rick is safe he mocks him again over the deaths of his friends and threatens to kill those remaining. The threatening works and Rick runs to the van. Negan, in an effort to torture and test him further, locks the door and forces Rick to fight for his life. After a few moments he lets Rick in and Rick reluctantly hands over the axe. Negan then drives them both back to where the group is held hostage.

Negan decides to talk to Rick more once again gleefully mocking Rick and the deaths of his group members. After cleaning the axe with both Rick's jacket and a blanket he proceeds to hand it over to Rick excitedly telling him he has a good feeling Rick will need it. He then drags Rick once again out of the car and into the center of the group. He then questions Rick as to whether he knew the trips purpose and is angry when he does not get an immediate response. Finally he reveals that he feels like Rick is still aggressive and looks at him with defiance in his eyes. He declares Rick has failed and asks him if he should give him another chance, to Ricks begging compliance. Negan seems excited at his response and order that guns be drawn to the rest of the groups heads, specifically aimed in a way that the bullet would exit through their noses creating a 'real mess'.

He then orders Carl to come forward and only gets him to comply after ordering twice. He then starts to take off his belt and asks Carl if he is left handed with sports terminology, to the boys aggressive confusion. After asking in a more literal way he learns this to not be the case and Negan begins to buckle his belt around his arm asking him if it hurt. The boy once again defiant responds that it doesn't, which leads Negan to cheerfully say it's supposed to. He then takes off Carl's hat and asks him to 'spread his wings' putting his arms to his sides. Negan then asks Simon if he posses a pen to Simons cheerfully saying he does. After receiving the pen from Simon Negan begins to draw a line splitting Carl's arm commenting to the boy that the pen should feel as could as a warthogs ball sack being slowly dragged over his arm. After he is done he hears Rick, realizing what he plans to do, begging him to stop. Negan tells him joyfully that he intends to do nothing, and then orders Rick to cut his sons arm himself even giving him instructions on how to do so.

Negan explains to Rick that if he does not comply he will first execute the group, then Carl, then all of the citizens of Alexandria and finally execute him after several years of contemplations over his actions. Michonne attempt to convince Negan that they are subjugated but he believes that while they may be subjugated Rick is not. Negan assures Rick that Carl will be healed by their doctor back at the saviors base, if the cut is made cleanly enough. Rick is first stunned then he tries to do everything in his power to convince Negan against it, even suggesting self mutilation. Negan however tell him this is the only way and he will not accept any alternative. After several minutes of wait he becomes increasingly angry, even beginning a countdown to Ricks action. He violently slaps Rick due to his inaction and firmly tells him he must act now. After being convinced by Carl, Rick accepts and prepares to painfully chop his sons arm. However Negan reveals this was a test and explains his rules once again to a now broken Rick. He however still gets angry at Ricks now defeated state violently telling him to respond to his commands. After he does so Negan is pleased at Ricks submission vividly declaring "That was the look I was looking for".

With Rick now accepting his rule Negan cheerfully declares this to be a productive day and thanks all of the group for their participation, even the now deceased. He also orders Daryl to be imprisoned at his truck and declares that due to his bravery he shall now join Negans group while mocking Ricks defeated state. He also leaves them their van for its use in the collection of his materials and states than in a weeks time he will return to collect the first half of all their supplies. He welcomes the group into his new order while at the same time warning them to never try to betray him. He then leaves the group in shambles and mockingly declares "TaTa" as he and his followers presumably return to their base.

Killed Victims

 * Rory (Caused)
 * Marsha (Caused or Direct)
 * Tim (Caused or Direct)
 * Ethan (Indirectly Caused)
 * Abraham Ford
 * Glenn Rhee
 * At least 20 unnamed people
 * Numerous counts of zombies and unnamed people (Caused and Direct)

Relationships
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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
"'''I'm gonna kill you. (...) Not today. Not tomorrow. But I'm gonna kill you."

- Rick declaring that he will kill Negan. 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 seems concerned about Abraham's defiant disposition. When Abraham rises up to Negan, as if to say "pick me," Negan laughs and walks away. After being captured by Negan and his Saviors, unlike the rest of the members, Abraham shows completely no fear in facing them. According to Michael Cudlitz, Negan indeed selected Abraham because the ginger giant posed the biggest threat as far as resistance went; Abe was seen as the strongest link and the hardest to break. Abraham is defiant until the end, and utters "suck my nuts" just before he is bludgeoned to death. It is likely that Negan held respect for Abraham for the same reasons he took Daryl.

Glenn Rhee
Negan and Glenn hardly know each other but Negan be neutral about him after Glenn desperately tries to intervene him from harming Maggie. Indeed, he seems to empathize enough to understand Glenn's mistake. 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 completely destroyed. }}

Season 6

 * "Last Day on Earth"

Season 7

 * "The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be"

Trivia

 * Negan is the third major recurring antagonist in the TV Series, the first being Shane Walsh and the second being The Governor.
 * 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 is the only main antagonist to kill two main characters in a season premiere.
 * 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.