Ever since Jeffrey Dean Morgan first appeared with his barbed baseball bat Lucille at the end of The Walking Dead‘s sixth season, Negan has totally stolen the show. Still, despite the uber-villain having quite a large role in season 7, we didn’t learn anything about his pre-apocalypse past. As it stands, there isn’t much to humanize the character beyond his gleeful evil-doing.
During a special preview of the season 8 premiere that aired on Sunday, however, Morgan revealed that bits and pieces about Negan’s past will start to come out over the next run. The catalyst for this will be the unlikely friendship that will build up between Negan and Eugene, who previously betrayed the Alexandrians and switched sides to the Saviors.
“The little slivers of backstory that we’re hopefully will find out, it’s important to have someone like Josh, or Eugene, on Negan’s side. Eugene wants to know things. So, it’s been a good conduit,” said the actor.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard that Negan’s origins would come to light in season 8. Last month, The Walking Dead showrunner Scott Gimple revealed that he has “a loose plan in place” as to when to drop hints at the villain’s past. Gimple also mentioned that the TV show would be inspired by Here’s Negan, Robert Kirkman’s comic book prequel that focused on the character’s early years.
It’s intriguing to learn though that Eugene will be the one who coaxes info about Negan’s past life out of the tyrant, as he’s previously been a closed book. It’s an interesting direction for both characters to go in, though it won’t do anything to appease those fans who absolutely despise Eugene for turning to the Dark Side.
The Walking Dead returns for its eighth season – and 100th episode – on Sunday, October 22nd.