Jeffrey Dean Morgan opens up about Negan's big moment with Maggie in The Walking Dead series finale

Lauren Cohan as Maggie Rhee and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan Smith in The Walking Dead season 11 — (Image credit: Jace Downs/AMC)

Jeffrey Dean Morgan has opened up about those two big Negan and Maggie (Lauren Cohen) scenes during The Walking Dead series finale.

Warning: Spoilers for The Walking Dead series finale ahead!

"She was never going to forgive him," Morgan explained to Entertainment Weekly. There's never going to be this big friendship. It just won't be and that can't happen, but fast forward finally to the finale, and there it is! It's brief, but it's as honest as I think Negan can be. Negan is not big on sharing his feelings, which I think is okay. He's always going to have an armor around him, as is she with him. So, I think you saw an uneasy kind of understanding, and I think filming it for both of us, I was thankful and I think she was."

"I remember listening to it and thinking, 'Oh, I could respond to this.' I can very much think in Negan's brain. I can hop into Negan's brain and know exactly where and what is going to trigger him to say something a little bit snarky. Just a little bit, just enough to give a little poke," Morgan said. "And I didn't get a chance to, which is good. Negan needed to shut up. It's not the first time."

The scenes set up the forthcoming Maggie and Negan spin-off series, The Walking Dead: Dead City. Maggie invites him to stay, but, according to Morgan, he doesn't stick around. Though Morgan neglected to explain how, the two find each other again somehow in the new series and end up in a post-apocalyptic Manhattan that has long since been cut off from the rest of North America.

For more, check out our guide to how to watch The Walking Dead in order.

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ based in New York City. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.