The Walking Dead just brought Negan back as a villain
Negan is back as a true antagonist. In The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3 episode 5, Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan shoots community member Fabian after the man insults Maggie and is found carrying a gun. Negan then refuses arrest and vows to put down anyone who tries to cage him, setting him against Maggie's group. The turn comes after seasons of a softer Negan, and it is the moment fans of the original villain have been waiting for.
Key Takeaways
- Dead City season 3 episode 5 recasts Negan as a major antagonist after he kills Fabian in a bar.
- Jeffrey Dean Morgan said he nearly left after season 2 because Negan had lost his humor and charisma.
- AMC brought in Seth Hoffman after Morgan pushed for a change in direction.
- Negan and Maggie are on better terms, but he now stands against her community.
- New episodes air Sundays on AMC and AMC+.
What happened to Negan in Dead City episode 5?
According to Undead Walking's recap, Maggie and Renata have been building a Manhattan community that now houses dozens of survivors. A sudden earthquake destroyed the pantry and wiped out much of their food.
One resident, Fabian, never wanted to leave the Bricks for Manhattan. He has blamed Maggie for every misfortune. While leaders were away finding walkers to generate methane from their decomposing bodies and power the hospital 24/7, Fabian stole the remaining food for his family.
Renata forced him to return the supplies and apologize in public. His wife and kids stopped talking to him. He drank at the bar run by Negan and new friend Mason Dillard, then called Maggie a "disease" who "always thought was right about everything you could be wrong about."
Negan grew furious, spotted Fabian's gun, and held him at gunpoint. Renata tried to stop the killing, saying that is not how the community handles hard problems. Negan pulled the trigger anyway.
Why did Jeffrey Dean Morgan want Negan back?
Season 2 of Dead City drew mixed reactions, and Morgan was ready to walk. On the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, he said, "From my point of view, all I did was cry, and he'd lost his charisma and everything that made him Negan."
He called Dan McDermott, who runs AMC, to say he could not continue that way. The network brought in Seth Hoffman. Morgan told Hoffman the dynamic had to change beyond Maggie wanting to kill him while he tried to stop her. He wanted Negan's humor, charisma, and smartness restored.
This season already showed flashes of that old energy. Negan killed the Dama "just for the sake of it," made a new friend in Dillard, and even played Xbox at the bar. Episode 5 is the sharper turn: he will "put down any soul" who even thinks about locking him in a cage again. Renata has vowed to come back with men and guns.
Is this the same Negan who killed Glenn Rhee?
In spirit, yes. Negan is still best known for The Walking Dead season 7 premiere, "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be," when he beat Abraham and then Glenn Rhee to death with his barbed-wire bat Lucille. Glenn's last words to Maggie were "I'll find you." That episode reportedly cost the series about 5 million viewers.
Dead City had mostly shown him trying to be a better man and killing only with cause. That is why Fabian's murder lands as a reset. Morgan and Lauren Cohan's Maggie are finally on good terms, which makes the coming clash with her community more complicated than a revenge loop.
For more strange-world storytelling, see our Future Tech & AI Wonders coverage. New episodes continue every Sunday on AMC and AMC+.