There are few moments in the history of television as jarring and heartbreaking as the The Walking Dead‘s season 7 premiere deaths. Following the season 6 finale’s agonizing cliffhanger, the next season’s opener took a nightmarish turn as Negan – played by the charismatic Jeffrey Dean Morgan – killed not one but two of the show’s most beloved characters, Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Glenn (Steven Yeun), in the goriest and most gut-wrenching way.
Those watching during the horrendous killings will likely remember a rare moment of levity though when Abraham uttered his now-famous final words, “suck my nuts.” In the show, Negan responded by mocking and laughing at Abraham’s defiant remark in the classic way that only he can. Obviously, Abraham’s attempt to show no fear did nothing to stop the brutal bashing of his skull, and though it’s now an uncomfortable memory for most of us, Morgan holds a special place for the scene.
During a recent episode of Friday Night in with The Morgans, Cudlitz and Morgan had a chance to catch up and reminisce about the horrific deaths. Apparently, Morgan still gets to sign baseball bats from fans who have already had Abraham’s hilarious final words inscribed onto them by Cudlitz, and it’s been a wonderful source of laughter and nostalgia for the actor.
Speaking about the scene and the bats, Morgan said:
It just is a moment that I’ll never, ever forget in my whole life. It just was our kind of a moment that we got to have, and I still to this day get baseball bats to sign that you signed that say ‘suck my nuts’ and it makes me fall on the f-cking floor every time.
Even better, according to him, the actual moment between the two actors on-set was at least partially improvised.
I’ll never, ever forget when we shot it, when Mike [improvised] the line, ‘Suck my nuts.’ It’s rare we kind of get to play with words a lot, but when Mike kind of got on his knees and he said ‘suck my nuts,’ and I got to kind of respond to that in a Negan way…
The Walking Dead is now on its tenth season, though the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has caused an unfortunate delay of the season finale. For now, no one seems to know for sure when we’ll get to see how the show wraps up its war with its current villains, the Whisperers, but the finale is still expected to be released at some point later this year.
