The Walking Dead star pitched a Negan showdown, but the writers rejected it

A Walking Dead star reveals his rejected Negan idea, another regrets his early death, and the big boss teases who’s in danger in the season 10 finale.

Former star of The Walking Dead Steven Ogg, who played Negan’s right-hand man Simon in seasons 6 through 8, has recently revealed an idea he pitched to the show’s bosses about an epic showdown between the two characters. Unfortunately, the writers shot it down.

If you don’t remember, Simon’s final episode came in season 8’s “Worth,” where he and Negan get into a furious fistfight. Eventually, Negan manages to put Simon on the floor where he strangles him to death. It’s pretty brutal.

Steven Ogg does make a couple more appearances after this — if you count a zombified version of himself as an appearance.

Speaking on the Talk Dead to Me podcast, Ogg explained his idea for a Simon/Negan clash “I thought, ‘I’m gonna face [Negan]. I’m gonna kneel, I’m gonna turn around, and I’m gonna put my arms behind my back, and I’m just going to stare at him…Bash my head in, kill me, but you’re gonna look me in the eyes. Let’s do this.’”

However, despite his best efforts to get his vision onscreen, the writers decided to pass. “I made that choice, and then… they were like, ‘Interesting choice, Steven, but you’re not doing that. You’re not gonna be facing Negan eye-to-eye, turn around.’”

"So that’s what happens when you have a good production, you can try stuff and they can sometimes appease you. Sometimes they just say, ‘That’s not right.’"

It would have been nice to see the two villains face each other like that. I’m still happy with the way the final showdown turned out. Season 8 isn’t without its flaws, but Negan’s battle with Simon is a highlight.

Another Walking Dead star who didn’t get his way was Matt Mangum, who played Savior D.J. In “The Calm Before” in season 9, D.J. is killed by Alpha, leader of the Whisperers. Sadly, this means Mangum was never able to take part in the epic Whisperer War storyline. “I really wanted to be there for the Whisperer War after reading it in the comics,” Mangum explained during his own appearance on Talk Dead to Me.

"It’s a gut punch. I was trying to think of a nicer way to put it. You kind of expect it’s gonna happen eventually, based on the show and what it is, that you’re just not going to last forever. I started to feel like D.J. had built some longevity, and that maybe he would be there [longer]."

I suppose if you’re going to be on a show as brutal as The Walking Dead, you’ve just got to accept that your character can be killed off at any moment.

The upcoming season 10 finale promises a lot of death, and an epic battle. Who should we be especially worried for? “If you look at Judith’s history of parents and guardians, they’re the ones in danger,” Walking Dead overlord Scott Gimple said on a panel at last month’s Comic-Con@Home event.  “Judith is taking care of herself fine, even taking care of RJ. Anybody who gets in that position with Judith winds up going, and she came into this world with a difficult sort of situation…I’m just saying, I’m not as worried about RJ and Judith as the person taking care of them.”

After a long delay due to the coronavirus, the finale is set to premiere October 4 on AMC. Looking at what the cast and crew have to say say, this seems like an episode you don’t want to miss!

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