David Morrissey (the Governor) stopped watching The Walking Dead when Negan arrived

David Morrissy played one the most feared villains on The Walking Dead: the Governor. But around the time the next big bad arrived, he turned it off.

Before Alpha and Negan entered the fray on The Walking Dead, there was the Governor, played by David Morrissey. The Governor — real name Philip Blake — was the main villain in seasons 3 and 4 (and he showed up in a couple of flashbacks later on), making him not only one of the longest-serving bad guys but also the main villain on the show when ratings were super high.

The Governor died in season 4, but Morrissey an avid viewer…Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) was introduced in the final moments of the sixth season, where he ultimately decided to give it up and move on.

“I watched up to the emergence of Negan,” Morrissey told Digital Spy. “Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a mate of mine and before he went onto the show, he and I talked about it. So I was keen to see his interpretation of that character, which was wonderful. But I then stopped watching it.”

He did, however, reassure fans that the reason he stopped watching didn’t have to due with him not liking the show anymore, but because of other commitments. “There was an element in it that I was sort of, well, I thought: ‘I’m not in this show anymore so it’s hard to keep watching, and I’ve got other things to get on with.’ But mostly the fact that it was difficult for me to commit to watching it in the way that fans do.”

It’s a shame that Morrissey stopped where he did, because he missed out on some of the best episodes so far. While it’s true that the show hit a slump in seasons 7 and 8, things have really picked up under showrunner Angela Kang.

And even though ratings aren’t what they used to be, The Walking Dead is still the top-rated cable drama in the US, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show had an average of 5.4 million viewers per episode, with a 1.9 rating among adults 18-49. In other words, it’s doing very well.

The Walking Dead will release its 10 finale, which was delayed due to COVID-19, on October 4. We’ve been waiting months to watch what happens when the Whisperers attack our heroes, and the cast and crew have teased something quite spectacular. Let’s hope it can live up to all the hype.

You can watch David Morrissey star alongside Game of Thrones star Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) in the upcoming ITV drama, The Singapore Grip.

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