There are some big changes coming to The Walking Dead, and the ones which will have the most impact will be instigated by Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan. We already know that he'll be taking a life of a fan-favourite character in the season 7 premiere, and Morgan - who was recently upgraded to regular status - is teasing tough times ahead for Team Grimes...
"It’s a reset on The Walking Dead world", Morgan told Entertainment Weekly. "It’s f—ing 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. It’s a different show now. It’s going to have a different feeling. You’re going to see your favourite characters in a position that they’ve never been in before, which is super vulnerable and victimised".
Those who read the Walking Dead comics will know that Negan's vocabulary is very profane, and while the version of the character most will see in season 7 won't be as foul-mouthed Morgan revealed that there were certain takes where he got to cut loose:
"Now, what we do with Negan is we have to film a TV version. I still am allowed a couple swear words, I can drop them in there here and there, and then we do what we call the - I can’t even say it - the “F-take,” where I just let loose, and I let loose a lot when I am off-camera, like if I’m working with other actors for their coverage. When the camera’s on them, I will just let words fly … and some are scripted, and some are just in character". It's likely that we'll see these 'F-takes' when season 7 inevitably makes its way to Blu-Ray, but something tells me Negan's dialogue will be plenty colourful when The Walking Dead returns to TV screens later this year.
Season 7 of The Walking Dead will debut on AMC in October 2016.
Images: AMC
