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The Walking Dead Season 7: It’s Negan’s world

By Susie Graham

SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 22: Actors Jeffrey Dean Morgan (L) and Andrew Lincoln attend AMC's 'The Walking Dead' panel during Comic-Con International 2016 at San Diego Convention Center on July 22, 2016 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 22: Actors Jeffrey Dean Morgan (L) and Andrew Lincoln attend AMC's 'The Walking Dead' panel during Comic-Con International 2016 at San Diego Convention Center on July 22, 2016 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) /
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The Walking Dead likes to reinvent itself in some way or another every 8 episodes. We’ve seen from the trailer and interviews that season 7 will belong to Negan.

If you look back on each season half, you really can see over-arching themes, tones, big picture stories and that reinvention that is always talked about by the producers and creators of The Walking Dead.

If we look back at season 6, the first half was about Alexandria. The group had arrived there in season 5B and attempted to adjust and help the people there open their eyes to the world outside the walls.

In season 6A, Alexandria tried to figure out how to work together under Rick and protect their community. Could they live together? Could Rick accept them as his people? There was a herd to fight and they all stepped up.

Related Story: Season 6 Episode Guide

Season 6B was about rebuilding the Alexandria that they fought so hard to keep. Then they started discovering other people and new threats. The world got bigger. As they ended season 6, the world was not only bigger, it didn’t belong to them anymore.

"It’s a reset on The Walking Dead world. It’s f**king Negan’s world now. . . . What you’re going to see in the first half of this season is Negan wreaking havoc. And some of your characters that you’ve grown to love are not going to be on the show anymore, and it’s going to end badly for them. It’s going to be a whole new beginning for The Walking Dead. Really, we’ve taken the show and just flipped it upside down.~Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Via Entertainment Weekly)"

Dwight and the Saviors. The Walking Dead Season 7 Trailer. AMC.
Dwight and the Saviors. The Walking Dead Season 7 Trailer. AMC. /

The reinventions so far seem small and subtle compared to what appears to be ahead for us now. Watching the trailer, we see Dwight and the other Saviors kneel as Negan walks by. We had heard tell about Negan without even seeing him, building him up in our minds and in the minds of our characters.

His actual presence seems to live up to his reputation, both his reputation for being the favorite villain of the fans and for being a frightening and very real terrorist in the show. He’s not just a story, an apocalyptic urban legend, or a boogeyman as Daryl suggested.

Next: King Ezekiel, Shiva and a Renaissance of The Walking Dead

At the risk of sounding like I’m defending the cliffhanger, (I always thought the cliffhanger should have been immediately after Negan showed himself coming out of the trailer), I’m starting to see that the Lucille incident may truly be just the beginning of Negan becoming real in our story.

Enid once said about the walkers that it was their world and we are just living in it. Now it’s Negan’s world and the survivors and the walkers are just living in it.

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