At this point in our lives, we all know who Jeffrey Dean Morgan is. Not only is he the infamous Negan in both The Walking Dead and Dead City, but he has also appeared in various huge television shows as characters who truly stole audiences' attention and their hearts. But there was a time when even his agent had lost faith he’d make it.
In an interview with Josh Horowitz during an episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast on YouTube, Morgan told a story about how his former manager “fired” him because she said he had “aged out” of all the good roles—right before he got three major television breaks.
“I remember being in my mid-30s going, ‘This didn’t work out.’ And my manager had just fired me right before I got the three shows. I’d been with her forever. And she was like, ‘You’ve aged out, bro. You missed your window.’’
The three roles that Morgan had booked were John Winchester in Supernatural, Denny Duquette in Grey’s Anatomy (and won the affection of many television lovers), and Judah Botwin in Weeds. All three roles led to Morgan earning much longer stints in plenty of television shows, including Magic City, The Good Wife, and Extant, all the way up until he began portraying Negan in The Walking Dead.
Morgan commented that during that time, he was always “side hustling” and trying to pay his bills when his career didn’t really take off.
“I would build fences or whatever. It usually involved hammers. There was always something to build for somebody.”
It’s almost impossible to imagine a world where Morgan isn’t a mainstay on our television screens. Aside from his role in Dead City, which has only become bigger and better with its season 3 premiere, Morgan has had roles in both Prime shows, The Boys and Invincible (two very violent superhero shows that are both so good).
But Morgan has also begun to ease back into softer roles too, such as his current project, Sterling Point. His character is the total opposite of Negan's, and he had to mentally switch his headspace to play him while simultaneously filming season 3 of Dead City.
Even so, that series is currently the biggest show on the platform, sitting at the number one spot, and has earned stellar reviews. It’s turning out to be a real surprise hit. Morgan’s former agent really did make a big, unfortunate mistake.
Either way, now we get to enjoy Morgan in some of the best roles he has done—and how hard he worked to get here. I must admit that even I’m curious about what he will do when his time as Negan does eventually come to an end. But for now, I’ll enjoy the ride (and rewatch some of his other best roles).
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