AMC’s The Walking Dead has some of the best quotes in TV history that mirror either tragedy or hopefulness. One specific and iconic line from the show’s villain, Negan, wasn’t actually intentional and ruled a mistake by its creator, Robert Kirkman, later on. Whether it is Carol’s “Look at the Flowers” quote, Andrea’s emotional speech about making room for pain, or Beth’s heartbreaking speech with Daryl about staying true to who you are, The Walking Dead‘s eleven seasons touched the hearts of viewers with some of its classic one-liners.

From his terrifying and violent introduction to The Walking Dead’s sixth season to then finding some kind of redemption towards the show’s latter episodes, Negan has remained a firm favorite with fans. It’s fair to say that outside of the show, Negan’s “personality” would surely be less tolerated, but throughout the series, Jeffery Dean Morgan offered up a cruel, calculating, and, at times, very funny villain who people loved to hate. With plenty of iconic quotes and never one to miss some kind of sarcastic response, one of Negan’s most notable lines almost didn’t make it into the series.

The Walking Dead’s Most Iconic Negan Quote Was a “Stan Lee Moment”

As highlighted by ScreenRant, The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman reveals that Negan’s “Little pig, little pig. Let me in” quote was actually a mistake because he had forgotten that he used it before in a nearly-identical way for a group of random marauders in a previous issue of the comic book. In The Walking Dead #103, Negan’s line can be first heard as he comes across as the “big bad wolf” to put the fear of god into Rick and the rest of the survivors, which was also mirrored in the TV series. However, in the recently released The Walking Dead Deluxe #103, Kirkman revealed that Negan’s iconic quote was simply down to him forgetting that he used it before, stating that it was his “Stan Lee moment”.

“Yes, this is a bit of a Stan Lee moment for me. Negan arrives saying, “Little pig, little pig, let me in.” I didn’t remember at the time that I’d had a random group of marauders do the exact same thing about 20 issues prior. Is it believable two people would do that? Sure? Was it intentional? Definitely not.”

This fun fact for The Walking Dead fans offers up a really cool detail about Negan and a little “behind the scenes” insight into the mind of Kirkman. Although probably frustrating for the creator, loyal supporters of the franchise will never get enough juicy Negan facts. For those unaware of what Kirkman means by his “Stan Lee moment”, this is in reference to Lee’s notoriously terrible memory and forgetting character names he created. In turn, the Marvel legend would use a method where the last name and the first begin with the same letter – like with Peter Parker, Betty Brant, Otto Octavius, and J. Jonah Jameson.

Another recent revelation from The Walking Dead creator revealed the inspiration behind Negan’s bat. According to Kirkman, he decided to name the bat ‘Lucille’ after watching the 1967 movie, Cool Hand Luke. Even though The Walking Dead‘s final episode aired on 20 November 2022, Negan, and many others, lived on in numerous spin-offs. To catch the iconic “bad guy” cause even more chaos, The Walking Dead: Dead City returns this year, although a specific release date has yet to be announced.