The end of The Walking Dead season 8 saw Rick Grimes and his allies finally best Negan and his Saviors in battle. Despite all he’d done, Andrew Lincoln’s leader decided to do the moral thing and prove that they can be better than the villain by letting him live, locking him behind bars indefinitely.
However, that doesn’t mean that we’ve seen the last of the larger-than-life tyrant. Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s still a regular on the show and will continue to manipulate the situation and get into people’s heads from his jail cell in the upcoming ninth season. In particular, the character’s known for his big speeches, and Morgan promised ComicBook.com that this would not change in the new run.
“That doesn’t go away. Whenever I see that I’m in an episode, I promise you, it’s 42 pages of dialogue. With the exception of, maybe, [Episode 9×02].”
You might remember that Rick’s decision to keep Negan alive, though based on Carl’s dying wish, was not popular with some of his friends. In particular, Maggie, Daryl and Jesus seem to have formed a secretive clique to work against him. Seeing as season 9 will begin with a time jump, we’re not sure what’s happened to their plans in the time since then.
Of course, Rick himself won’t be around too much longer, as Lincoln’s bowing out of the series within the first half of the season. If he’s going to die – and we highly suspect he will – this will no doubt have a big impact on everyone around him. Including Negan, apparently, as Morgan’s hinted in the past that his character might even start to show signs of redemption once Rick’s gone.
The Walking Dead season 9 kicks off a new era of the series when it returns to AMC on Sunday, October 7th.
