Is ‘The Walking Dead’ Prepping A ‘Negan’ Spin-Off Series?

The Walking Dead continues to be deep into its comic-based Commonwealth arc, with last night’s episode about a conspiracy-stricken Eugene, where as it turns out, everyone was conspiring against him. There’s a populist revolt brewing in the region, but a number of high profile characters have gone missing, one more significantly than most.

We at least know where characters like Maggie and Lydia are, and The Walking Dead has already teased that the remnants of the Hilltop will be drawn into a conflict with the Commonwealth later on. But what the show has also done is bury Negan somewhere unknown.

After the events of a few episodes ago, where Negan watches Maggie turn on surrendering Reapers, he realizes that he probably should not wait around for her to kill him someday, so he leaves.

This mirrors the comic “ending” for Negan where after the Whisperer War he just rides off into the sunset and never returns, even after a lengthy flash-forward. So technically this should be the last we’ve ever seen of Negan on The Walking Dead, if we’re mirroring the source material.

But I doubt it.

I very much believe that of the future projects that AMC is planning for the Walking Dead “universe” post-season 11 and the end of the main series, that they will do a Negan spin-off.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is more passionate about playing Negan than practically any other actor I’ve seen on TV having leapt at the role sight unseen back when it was being cast. AMC has also developed a close relationship with Morgan, giving him and his wife his own pandemic series where he had other actors on to chat in Friday Night In with the Morgans. AMC is similarly close to Norman Reedus, who is getting his own spin-off series with Carol’s Melissa McBride.

This has already come up before. In fall 2021, Morgan spoke to TVLine about possible spin-offs for Negan:

“There’ve been things discussed with me and network people,” he said. “We’ll see. I mean, Negan could still find his way six feet under [before season 11 concludes], so that could be a problem unless it’s a prequel.”

“I kind of know how the season has worked itself so far, and we’re cracking open windows here and there that would lend themselves to more Negan story.”

Again, this is a departure from the comics, but AMC knows that Negan is a fan-favorite character at this point and Morgan is seemingly down to play him indefinitely. So I would imagine that a Negan spin-off is being crafted even if Negan himself is nowhere to be seen on the main show right now, and may not be for a while. And when he does come back, I imagine it will directly lead into the concept of a potential spin-off. Mark my words.

If this is true, this would mean that after season 11, The Walking Dead universe could be the Daryl and Carol show, Tales from the Walking Dead, the anthology series, Fear the Walking Dead, which I expect to end within another season or two, and then this potential Negan spin-off. And a question mark remains the Rick Grimes movies, though I maintain they should just bring him back for an actual series as well. Hell, do a Rick and Negan show. But that’s an idea for another day.

Trust me, I’ve seen how AMC works, and if they can make a Negan spin-off happen logistically, you can bet they’re going to do it.

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