Jeffrey Dean Morgan says Negan's back to his old ways at start of The Walking Dead: Dead City

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan and Lauren Cohan as Maggie in The Walking Dead: Dead City — (Image credit: AMC/Peter Kramer)

TV has seen a lot of redemption arcs over the years, but not many are as hotly debated as that of Negan's in The Walking Dead. The former baddie, who caused many of the show's viewers to tune off when he killed fan favorite Glenn (Steven Yeun) in season 7, found himself unexpectedly sticking around until the series finale – and kind of burying the hatchet with Maggie, Glenn's widow, too.

In The Walking Dead: Dead City, a new spin-off that picks up with Negan and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) a few years on from The Walking Dead's conclusion, we discover that the character is no longer the semi-good guy he worked so hard to become.

"He came a long way in the original show. But I think there's a problem that occurs when we find him in Dead City, and that is, he's not been part of the group now for a couple of years," Morgan explains in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on the cover. "A lot of bad shit has happened to him, and he's reverted a little bit because he's a survivor. More than anything else, he's a survivor.

"Maggie shows up at his doorstep; you can tell that he's gone backwards a little bit, just in the way he acts and the way he talks to her. I also think there's some frustration that he has, like, 'I've tried to apologize. I have tried to do the best I can for the last 10 years, and we've gotten nowhere. I still think if I close my eyes, you're gonna put a shank through my head.' And that never goes away."

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Described as a miniseries by showrunner Eli Jorné, who's best known for writing and producing The Walking Dead, Dead City sees Maggie and Negan form an unlikely alliance when the former's son, Hershel, is kidnapped and taken to a derelict Manhattan. Gaius Charles, Karina Ortiz, Mahina Napoleon, Jonathan Higginbotham, Caleb Reese Paul, Charlie Solis, Aixa Kendrick, Eleanor Reissa, and Michael Anthony make up some of the supporting cast. Randy Gonzalez, David Chen, John Wu, Alex Huynh, Alex Borlo, and Trey Santiago-Hudson also star.

The above is just a snippet of our interview, available in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 on the cover and is available on newsstands from Wednesday, May 17. For even more from SFX, sign up to the newsletter, sending all the latest exclusives straight to your inbox.

Tara is the NYT bestselling author (or co-author) of 30 movie and TV companion books including the upcoming official history of Marvel Studios. She's also a freelance journalist with bylines at print and online publications such as: SCI FI Magazine, Total Film, SYFY Wire, Today.com, Fandom, Fandango/Movies.com, Fancast, Newsarama, Star Wars: Insider, Walking Dead Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, LOST: The Official Magazine, Alias Magazine, 24 Magazine, and VFXWorld.com. She is also the U.S. Editor for the world’s premiere sci-fi/fantasy publication, SFX Magazine. She is the host and producer for SYFY Wire’s official podcasts for USA Network’s, Colony, HISTORY's Project Blue Book official podcast, and the Lost retrospective, Through the Looking Glass co-hosted with Maureen Ryan.

With contributions from

Amy WestEntertainment Writer