The Walking Dead will return early next year for a batch of six new episodes, and one of them will take the form of something that fans have been waiting to see for a long time. Yes, 10×22 “Here’s Negan” will finally reveal the former villain’s backstory, as inspired by the comic book of the same name. And TWD boss Scott M. Gimple has teased that it’s going to go down as one of the show’s best episodes ever.
While speaking to Insider, the chief content officer explained that a Here’s Negan adaptation “was always on the cards,” but it was the need to produce six anthology-like installments during the pandemic that “sped it up a bit.” Gimple was keen to stress that you wouldn’t know that from the quality of it, though.
“If anybody saw that episode, they wouldn’t think that because it’s one of the most brilliant episodes that the show has done… This got accelerated. This was something we were looking at, but it’s going to be an amazing episode,” said Gimple. “I’m so proud of everybody who worked on that one. I’m proud of the entire season. They shot six episodes in six weeks.”
He went on to explain how much the cast and crew need to be commended for creating six new episodes within such a tight timeframe and during such a difficult period, saying:
He continued, “I think The Walking Dead, Angela [Kang, showrunner], and the writers, the producers, crew, the cast did an amazing job, putting those all together.”
In the comic spinoff miniseries, we learn how Negan’s wife Lucille died of cancer at around the same time as the zombie apocalypse began. In a perfect bit of casting, Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s real-life wife, Hilarie Burton Morgan, came aboard the TV show to play Lucille, who Negan later named his favorite weapon after.
The other episodes will focus on Maggie (Lauren Cohan) now that she’s back and explain what’s happened to her since we saw her last. We’ll also catch up with Eugene and his group as they come into contact with the Commonwealth and will even get an outing dedicated to Daryl and Carol’s relationship.
The Walking Dead season 10C kicks off Sunday, February 28th on AMC.