The Walking Dead delivered some of television’s most memorable villains, but none of them are as infamous or as talked-about as Negan. The charismatic, ruthless leader of the Saviors stormed onto screens in a way that shocked fans and forever changed the show’s landscape.
But what if the show had taken a completely different turn when it came to casting? What if someone else had stepped into Negan’s shoes other than Jeffrey Dean Morgan? According to a shocking revelation from a Scream star, that nearly happened. But only for 10 minutes.
Matthew Lillard says he briefly had the role of Negan on The Walking Dead
It's true! Matthew Lillard, who's best known for playing Stu in the Scream franchise and as Shaggy in the Scooby-Doo live-action movies, revealed in a new podcast interview that he was briefly cast as Negan in The Walking Dead. Lillard was a recent guest on Kristian Harloff’s The Big Thing Podcast, where he explained how everything unfolded.
The talented actor revealed that he had gone in to audition for Negan and even had multiple callbacks, but the role ultimately went to Morgan. Lillard then went on to describe how different his portrayal might have been if he had gotten the role. While Morgan’s Negan became a chilling and magnetic villain, Lillard suggests his version would have added a darker comedic edge.
"He’s super masculine, and I just would’ve been more wicked and funny. He was super badass and masculine. We would have had just very different takes.”
But what Lillard didn't know for some time was that the role of Negan was briefly his at one point in the casting process. He explained to the podcast host that he didn't find out until much later, when he attended San Diego Comic-Con to promote his new show at the time. While at the fan convention, he ran into Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, who dropped the shocking revelation. He told Lillard that he actually had the Negan part for about 10 minutes before the casting team decided to go in another direction.
Lillard learned from Kirkman that Morgan's agents had called and that Morgan had finally accepted the role. This immediately shifted the casting back to him, and Lillard lost on a role that could have changed the course of his career.
Honestly, it’s wild to think how different The Walking Dead could have been if Lillard had stayed in the role. Morgan made Negan unforgettable, but imagining Lillard’s take offers a fascinating “what if.” His version might have been less purely menacing and more wickedly playful, giving the character a different kind of unpredictability.
However, I personally think it all turned out for the best. Lillard is incredibly talented, and it’s fun to imagine how he might have made Negan a bit more mischievous or darkly playful. Still, Morgan brought something to the role that was just perfect. Lillard’s take might have been different, maybe even entertaining in a new way, but Morgan gave the character the intensity and presence that the story truly needed. In the end, the show got exactly the Negan it was meant to have.
The entire Walking Dead series is streaming on Netflix.