The Walking Dead is one of television’s most successful shows, but it didn’t achieve that status by scaring people with zombies or having the absolute best stories to tell every week. It achieved it through years of meaningful character interactions and important dialogue that has given us reasons to care about the people who inhabit the increasingly dangerous world within the series.
Longtime main character Rick Grimes helped set the stage for this kind of storytelling early on in the very first season with Andrew Lincoln’s exceptional acting and how Rick formed emotional bonds to the groups of people he encountered during the early moments of the show. This dedication to realistic relationships really clicked with audiences and continued to be the series’ best feature, clearly leading to the showrunners focusing heavily on character building and interpersonal drama as opposed to relying so strongly on the overarching threat of zombies.
Unfortunately for some of the most popular characters though, not everyone has gotten an opportunity to share the screen together. Plenty of folks die off or move to different places within the show’s universe, leaving some actors feeling disappointed that they never got to interact with one another on-screen.
That’s exactly what happened with Morgan actor Lennie James and Negan actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The two opened up on a recent episode of Friday Night in With the Morgans, discussing how they never had an opportunity to share the screen together.
Morgan said to James:
I’ve always been a fan of The Walking Dead, before I was ever a part of this world I was a big fan. And I was a big fan, really, of you. You were one of the people that always so stood out for me. So when I joined the show, I looked so forward to having some scenes with you.
James then responded:
One of the things I regret most about my time on The Walking Dead, and I regret very little, is there are a couple of people who became friends, but we never actually got to do any scenes together. You and Cudlitz are at the top of my list that I’m just gutted I never got a chance to [work with].
Morgan concurred:
It never happened. I got there and then you left, and it’s one of my biggest regrets.
No one knows the future, but as it stands, it looks as though their paths are unlikely to ever cross. Morgan left The Walking Dead in the season 8 finale and later crossed over to Fear the Walking Dead where he continues to portray the character. Negan, meanwhile, has remained in Alexandria and has been going through a truly captivating redemption arc that has somehow taken one of television’s most notorious villains and turned him into a sympathetic and lovable person.
The Walking Dead‘s season 10 finale airs on October 4th.