With so many The Walking Dead spinoffs now, it’s hard to keep track of which character knows who, but in the latest episode of Dead City, “Emigrants,” Negan made sure to let the audience know that he still thinks about Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) even now.
The moment comes when two rival groups from New Jersey arrive in Manhattan after seeing the Statue of Liberty all lit up and claim to have been attacked by the other group. Negan, who needed to get some actual answers from them, actually told the group a story about Rick without naming him:
“Two groups of people, but only one can stay. However will we decide? See, I used to know this, well, we’ll call him an asshole. And he would ask people three questions, and that would decide if they would stay as part of the community.”
Rick used to ask, "How many walkers did you kill? How many people did you kill? And why?” But of course, Negan being Negan said he’s not about that kind of life and went in a much more violent direction (i.e., blindfolding Dillard and telling him to blindly swing Lucille until one of the groups decided to get the heck out of NY or face the wrath of a barbed baseball bat).
Jeffrey Dean Morgan opened up about the moment and how it really translates into how he feels about the character all these years later.
Even though Negan did something that wasn’t so Rick-like to confront the groups, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Morgan admitted that he sees that as Negan’s way of showing respect for how Rick was back then. Even though they had two very different ways of dealing with people, he believes that they weren’t too far off with what they would do to protect others:
“I think Negan a long time ago came to a conclusion that he liked Rick. I think he respected Rick, and one of the only people he really respected at that time was Rick Grimes…I don’t think they were completely far off in things they’d done and who they are. They were both trying to lead people. They were both trying to do right by their communities. Negan just did it in a completely different way — generally in the smiley, evil way.”
Morgan continued, saying that even Negan calling Rick an 'a-hole' could be the same as calling Rick a ‘buddy’ because it was just that — someone he used to know:
“Even when I call him an asshole with the bit about how he used to know this asshole that used to ask these few questions — that’s Negan being Negan. He could have said, ‘I had a buddy once,’ and it would’ve been fine. But I like that reference too.”
Truthfully, that's kind of wholesome, in a way. Almost like he was able to move on and respect Rick for what he did. That's the kind of character growth we love to see. Then again, Morgan also said that scene was more like a “callback” to the Negan that we met from that infamous cliffhanger, and honestly, I totally agree. So maybe we aren't entirely out of those woods just yet.
But this makes sense in a way. I feel like towards the end of the time that both Rick and Negan were on the show, there was this kind of respect that he did have towards Rick even if he ultimately lost the war. And now, years later with his character development and how far he has come, it would make even more sense that he’s had time to self-reflect and really think back on that.
That does raise a question in my mind though — The Walking Dead timeline is kind of all over the place, but Dead City takes place years in the future, way after The Ones Who Live. It makes me wonder if there’s ever a shot that, by the time Dead City ends, we might see them on the same screen again.
Hey, after the fact that Beth is somehow coming back in an alternate reality episode, anything is possible. I think fans would want this more than anything else. I know I sure do.
Check out the current season of Dead City on AMC+.
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