The INSIDER Summary:
- “The Walking Dead” villain Negan was supposed to be killed off a long time ago in the comics.
- Creator Robert Kirkman says Negan was supposed to be killed off in issue #108.
- Kirkman revealed the info to fans in the latest issue of the comic out Wednesday, April 5.
- Negan was introduced in issue #100 of the comic series. The series is now on issue #166.
In the latest issue of “The Walking Dead,” series creator Robert Kirkman told fans that the series’ main villain, Negan, wasn’t supposed to be a big character in the comics at all. He was supposed to die after several issues.
“Negan was originally going to die in issue 108, so he’d have been in the book for … nine issues only,” wrote Kirkman in the letter’s portion of “The Walking Dead” issue #166. “But I liked the character so much I just kept coming up with more for him to do.”
Kirkman was responding to a fan who asked about his initial idea with the foul-mouthed leader of the Saviors. Negan was originally introduced in issue #100 brutally killing one of the core main characters of the series.
While Kirkman didn’t say how Negan would have died, if you go back to issue #108, it looks like he may have been set to die at the hands of his former right-hand man, Dwight.
Early in the issue, Negan’s playing ping pong. When Dwight refuses to play against him, Negan takes Dwight’s ex-wife and says he’ll just have sex with her instead. Perhaps instead of Dwight turning a blind eye, he would have taken Negan out right there.
Instead, we see Dwight go behind Negan’s back to join Rick and his crew to overturn the Saviors — something which just played out on the show.
It’s a good thing Kirkman changed his mind.
Negan has gone on to be one of the biggest characters in the series, and the character’s hypocritical stance on rape aside, a fan favorite. He’s become the foil to the series’ main protagonist Rick. Their relationship is akin to the Batman and Joker, feeding off one another and, in a weird way, being driven to action by each other.
The character became so popular that Negan currently has his own breakout miniseries, “Here’s Negan.” The series is released several pages at a time monthly in Kirkman’s Image+ magazine.
Negan was finally introduced on the TV series during the season six finale killing off two of the series’ longtime characters. For those who may be hoping for his character to meet a swift death, don’t plan on it happening anytime soon.
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