As we enter the eleventh and final season of AMC’s The Walking Dead, there’s plenty of big plot points the show needs to tie up. How will we see Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol’s (Melissa McBride) relationship develop? Who are the mysterious Civic Republic? And of course, will Negan get his comeuppance for his brutal murder of Maggie’s beloved husband Glenn in season 7.
During the season 11 premiere, “Acheron: Part I,” the show dives headfirst into the drama between Negan and Maggie (Lauren Cohan). At the end end of the episode, (SPOILER alert) Negan leaves Maggie to get eaten by walkers. However, before we get to that, there’s one moment in particular that had fans shouting at their televisions and sending out strongly worded tweets. It arrived when Negan confronted her over realizing that the only reason she bought him along was so she could murder him. He says he wouldn’t allow her to put him down like a dog, “like Glenn was.”
That comment was so harsh that even Jeffrey Dean Morgan thought Negan crossed a line, so much that he was heavily against saying it. “I fought it!” he told Entertainment Weekly. “I immediately called and was like, ‘I can’t say it. I can’t f—ing bring up Glenn’s name here.'”
For Lauren Cohan, reading the line in the scripts came as a shock. She’s wasn’t happy about it at all. “It was disgusting,” she told EW. “When I read that, I thought it was just pathetic for Negan to do that.”
"It’s this boiling point, and she’s doing everything in her power to not give in to the impulse to kill him when he says that, especially after everything he does to egg her on up to that point."
So far, Maggie has had tons of opportunities to kill Negan. Before taking a break from the show, she decided against ending Negan’s life, believing that him rotting in a cell would be a more fitting punishment. After returning in season 10, Negan was free from prison and getting on well with Rick’s daughter Judith. He’s actually been a valuable asset to the group. He did kill Alpha, after all. Time changed everything.
Norman Reedus wasn’t a fan of The Walking Dead line, either
Everyone has commented on Negan’s harsh comment. Norman Reedus (Daryl) also found it distasteful. In fact, after Negan says it, Daryl takes action and punches him square in the face. Like everyone at that point, he was simply fed up hearing Negan witter on:
"Daryl snaps in the beginning, like, just shut up! No one’s listening to you. Shut up! You’re making things worse, just ’cause you yap all the time. When I read [in the script] that Negan said that, I was like, “Wow, okay. For somebody who’s down in the sewer, surrounded by all the people that loved Glenn, and you’re worried someone’s going to kill you, that’s a really stupid thing to say."
Interestingly, Reedus views Daryl punching Negan as something of a blessing in disguise. “I think Daryl punches him kind of to save his life,” he said. “I think it’s to save his life and to move things forward because we need to get out of the tunnel, and that could have gone a whole other direction.”
It kind of worked, but Negan ended up having his way when he abandoned Maggie. From now on, who knows where things are heading between them? How long will it be before blood is spilled?
The Walking Dead season 11 continues Sundays on AMC. For AMC+ subscribers, new episodes air one week early.
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