This post contains spoilers for The Walking Dead.
When it comes to The Walking Dead’s most morally complicated characters, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) just about takes the cake. Viewers were introduced to him in the season six finale after already dealing with his lackeys for several episodes. In a brutal display of power, Negan bludgeoned members of Rick Grimes’ crew, Abraham and Glenn, to death with a baseball bat, the latter right in front of his wife, Maggie (Lauren Cohan).
Despite Negan’s being unpredictably violent and cruel, Rick quickly discovered that their foe possessed a quick wit and a cult-like influence over others. That star power allowed for him to become one of the series’ most beloved staples, villain or not, with internet debates raging over whether or not Negan is “a bad guy” or “a good guy.” Now, as the series rockets towards its inevitable end, fans are left wondering how the franchise’s most beloved antihero is going to fare – and, of course, whether or not Maggie is going to make good on her threat to murder him dead.
To Revenge or Not to Revenge
Season 11 has made a point of focusing on the animosity between Maggie and Negan. Of everyone currently at the camp, Maggie most obviously bears the ongoing damage of Negan’s brutal attack on Glenn, and he hasn’t exactly made it easy on her to forgive him. Back in Season 9, Maggie visited Negan briefly while he was imprisoned, intending to kill him to avenge Glenn’s death. Yet, the man she finds is unquestionably broken. He taunts her over her husband’s death, but Maggie ultimately walks away, noting that he’s “worse than dead.”
In the time since, Negan attempted to ingratiate himself in the community, but hasn’t succeeded, while Maggie suffered a traumatic loss and barely survived. After she returns to find him no longer imprisoned, old feelings of anger come back up immediately, sparking internet debates on whether or not Maggie should actually take revenge on Negan. Some fans argue that Maggie already appeared to have gotten over her hatred of Negan in previous seasons and that this story regresses her character, while others point to the visceral nature of his crimes as more than enough reason to want revenge regardless of previous conclusions. For his part, Negan seems to understand her anger all-too-well, but acknowledgment doesn’t equal atonement, and the angry glares between them rage on.
It’s enough of a concern that Carol makes an attempt to move Negan out of Alexandria in hopes of offering him refuge from Maggie. Negan makes peace with his past in “Here’s Negan” and refuses Carol’s protection, returning to live in Alexandria once more. Carol cheerfully informs him that Maggie is absolutely going to murder him and goes about her day.
We Aren’t So Different, You and I
Having only recently reunited with the rest of the group, Maggie’s moment of conditional forgiveness back in Season 8 is all but erased as she forces Negan to travel with her group on an apparent suicide run. Though she ostensibly brings him along as a guide, Negan clocks that her real motivation for bringing him with is that she plans to use him as cannon fodder. Maggie admits that this is more or less true, and the second he gets a chance, Negan allows her to suffer a fall that should have cost her her life.
Yet, having survived that, Maggie refuses to let a young man named Gabe through a door separating them from the walkers, even though it means his death. Like Negan, Maggie has no illusions that she does what she must to survive. Maggie refuses to leave Negan unwatched, and he is brutally honest with Maggie, at one point telling her that he wishes he had killed not just Glenn but all of Rick Grimes’ crew. When a horrified Maggie asks how he could say that, he replies that honesty is all they have left.
Throughout their partnership this season, at many points Negan has begged Maggie to think smart as she continues to lead with her emotions, desperately searching for food to keep their community alive regardless of the cost. Maggie’s life and decisions remain focused around the greater good while Negan’s self-motivated challenges to her sense of morality might have saved their lives at least once. Regardless of their mutual dislike, the episodes so far seem to be highlighting the fact that the two of them have a lot in common. Like Negan, Maggie is a charismatic leader whose people will follow her through the gates of Hell and back.
Negan and Maggie — Enemies to Lovers?
The high-running emotions between these two have led many fans to ship them, while others note the obvious barriers on that front. Showrunner Angela Kang recently made a statement in an interview with Insider assuring viewers that they weren’t intending to take the two in a romantic direction. Regardless, these are both equally dynamic characters that make a great adversarial team-up, in no small part due to their individual dedication to living by their own codes and the level of moral complexity each brings to the table. Yet, this season has gone to some lengths to establish that he is always going to be a little meaner than Maggie.
One of the most chilling moments of Season 11 came from Negan himself when he openly says to Maggie that he won’t allow her to put him down like a dog “like Glenn was.” It would be cold coming from anyone, but it’s especially biting coming from the man that killed her husband. According to Jeffrey Dean Morgan, he fought against saying this line as he felt that “any goodwill that Negan has gotten on his side is going to go out the window the minute I say Glenn.” This moment in combination with leaving Maggie to die early this season highlights that the show seems to be letting us know that it’s best not to get too comfortable with the tumultuous truce that has been established between these two.
One of the strongest themes that this franchise keeps going back to is that no character has a black and white moral alignment. Negan has undergone an unusual, pseudo-redemption arc throughout recent seasons. Still, coldly murdering multiple people and imprisoning and bullying the rest of Rick’s crew in his very first handful of appearances isn’t something that can be easily forgotten. As the series revs up for it’s final episodes, where Negan’s arc will lead is anyone’s guess.