Jeffery Dean Morgan as Negan

Fans of The Walking Dead’s Negan have been on a high since witnessing the villain everyone loves to hate in AMC’s TWD Dead City season two‘s trailer last summer. Now, the man behind the creepy whistle and sinister grin, Jeffery Dean Morgan, talks about how he “freaked out” after being reunited with Lucille, his barbed wire bat, on his 2025 return to post-apocalyptic Manhattan.

The Walking Dead: Dead City is a spin-off of The Walking Dead that follows the story of Maggie and Negan as they take on the Big Apple through the never-ending post-apocalypse in a bid to rescue Maggie’s son, Hershel, from The Croat. Not only is that enough to deal with for the pair, who had previously been at loggerheads over Negan killing Glenn, but zombies aren’t their only enemies. Dangerous humans have also made Manhattan their own with the likes of a Wild-West-style lawman called Armstrong who is tracking Negan and The Burazi, a group of hostile survivors introduced in season one of TWD Dead City.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan Was ”Freaked Out” on His Reunion With Lucille

Negan smiling with a baseball bat in The Walking Dead

In an interview with Collider, Jeffrey Dean Morgan shared his excitement and sense of empowerment about portraying Negan again in The Walking Dead: Dead City season two. Even though Morgan couldn’t wait to slip on his iconic leather jacket once more and slip into the arrogant character he has always been known for in The Walking Dead, he felt “freaked out” at how much he missed his loyal, brain-bashing bat companion, Lucille. Morgan stated that it wasn’t just as Negan that he missed his “co-star”, but also as himself and gushed at how amazing it felt to have the bat back in his hands again.

“Well, I freaked out. I didn’t realize how much I missed her, not only as Negan, but as myself. Just getting to hold that damn bat again adds something to that character and the swagger and the confidence and the humor that Negan has. I think it’s been sorely missed. The second that she’s back in Negan’s hands, he is empowered in some way that he hasn’t been in the last few years. It was a cool thing, having her back.”

Morgan also expressed how possessive he used to be over Lucille and admitted that the bloodthirsty baseball bat used to come everywhere with him in between takes of The Walking Dead. While most of the cast would hand over their swords and guns at the end of a scene, Morgan ended up taking his to places many wouldn’t. “Most people hand their props back to the prop guys in between shots, and I would never let anybody touch her,” he continued. “She’d go to my trailer with me. She’d go to the bathroom with me. She’d get coffee. They named her after my wife, played by my wife, so it was always good.”

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While it’s not clear if Negan will go back to his old ways from The Walking Dead era, that bone-chilling whistle can be heard very clearly throughout The Walking Dead: Dead City season two’s most recent trailer. The Walking Dead: Dead City premiered on AMC in 2023, and hosted six episodes in its first season. Although there’s nothing at present to state how many episodes will be in its second season, it’s likely to be around the same.

Season one of The Walking Dead: Dead City will be available to stream via Netflix on January 13, along with The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Season two of TWD: Dead City doesn’t have a release date as yet, but it is slated for sometime in 2025.