The Walking Dead theory: Carol might have released Negan

Negan has been free for several episodes as of The Walking Dead 1006, and though there has been a search it’s possible that releasing him was part of Carol’s plan.

Carol has been on a mission since losing her son Henry in The Walking Dead season 9. She wants Alpha’s head, figuratively and possibly literally, and she’s going to manifest her desires no matter what she has to do. She called Lydia’s attack and the witch hunt against Negan a “distraction”, so is it possible that she released Negan as part of her own plan?

Fans of The Walking Dead comics know that Negan was destined to join the Whisperers, but now that so many things have changed in the show’s canon – from losing Carl to Rick’s disappearance – that it’s quite possible for Negan’s story to take a sharp turn as well. He has been on something of a redemptive arc since putting his neck on the line to save Judith in episode 916, and that carried over to saving Judith in “Silence the Whisperers.”

Even Negan’s biggest fan Brandon didn’t know how Negan got out (and Negan wasn’t about to tell him), which suggests that his release might have been orchestrated by someone with an agenda of her own.

Negan has been part of The Walking Dead since episode 616, and yet fans have never seen Carol and Negan interact. In fact, this is one of the moments that we missed during the time jump between seasons 9 and 10. However, Carol seems to know Negan more than by reputation alone, and if she has been staying in Alexandria then it stands to reason that they have crossed paths while Negan was tending to his tomatoes.

Carol wants the Whisperers gone, and she’s someone who has no problem embracing the greatest good, even when that means utilizing a lesser evil to achieve that goal. The lesser evil in this case is Negan.

We saw Negan try to avoid going on patrol with Aaron, voicing his concerns to Gabriel. He knows the deck is stacked against him right now and he also knows that no one is safe while Alpha is around. We know he cares about Judith and Lydia, so it doesn’t make sense that he would turn on Alexandria in some quest to join a new group after all of his efforts to make it work in Alexandria. And let’s face it: Negan is not a joiner. He’s up to something in his quest to become a Whisperer, but what is it?

My theory: He’s working with Carol.