SDCC Exclusive: Jeffrey Dean Morgan Discusses The New Season Of ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’

AMC brought The Walking Dead: Dead City to San Diego Comic Con this past weekend to promote their new season. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was just one of the stars to sit down with BB, and fellow press, to open up about what they can expect from Negan during the season and more.

From Negan’s perspective, which character from the original The Walking Dead series would you have liked to see return:

“I’m going to go with Rick Grimes. I think that Negan and Rick Grimes had more in common than they ever even knew. I would’ve liked to have had a conversation as Negan and Rick and see where that would go. I love working with Andrew Lincoln, too, so there you go.”

What can Maggie [Lauren Cohan[ and Negan create together that neither of them could build separately in Season 3:

“I think what they’ve learned is that they’re probably stronger together than they are separate. And I think it’s taken a long time to come to that conclusion for both of the characters. This year, you see the beginning of them working together for not just themselves. It’s for the betterment of what’s going on in this world. They are a former duo, but getting there is going to be a ride. We get to see that ride this year, which is great, and just playing that and getting to have these characters kind of realize that.

Lauren said something the other day that, other than I think Daryl and Carol, these two characters have known each other longer than anyone else. We have always been at odds and trying to kill each other or whatever it may be. This is the first year that they take the time to actually listen and take the next step forward. What we can do together is much bigger than what Maggie can do on her own and what Negan can do on his own. That’s a big realization that we get to now play and dive into.”

If a zombie apocalypse happened in real life, would you rather be stuck in the city or upstate New York:

“I’m going upstate. Not even a question. I’ve already got it zombie-proofed at the farm. My daughter was like, ‘We built some bigger fences.'”

How physically demanding has the show been, especially with the running and stunts:

“Everything gets me winded. Too many stairs, man. We’re always going upstairs. I’m like, ‘What the fuck!’ I like doing the stunts once. The problem is the eighth time I’m like, ‘Oh, going to miss work tomorrow. Not going to be able to run up the stairs.’ It gets harder, I’ll say that. But we try to do everything and try to be in decent shape, mostly because we have to. We spend our life in front of the camera, so we can’t let ourselves go too much, unfortunately.

And we all have kids. We chase kids around a lot. That’s part of my exercise. I’ve got an eight-year-old. Try to keep up with her for half a day, and I can run up a flight of stairs if Seth [Hoffman’ writes that I have to do it. It’s a much more physical show than you think it is, I can say that.”

Will we revisit Negan’s family this season? How do you feel about the idea of exploring that relationship:

” That’s an excellent question. Negan went away for an episode in Season 11 and came back with a wife. We never saw that happen. We never saw the relationship. I was stunned. I was like, ‘What?’ Here’s Negan, and he was totally in love with his Lucille, and how could he ever move past that? And then suddenly I had a wife. I’m still confused by it.

With the new family, Seth and I talk about it and it’s like, ‘What do we do?’ Because for two years it was pretty much ignored. For three years it was pretty much ignored. And what do we do with it? It’s a question that still needs to probably be answered for some of the fans. Negan lets them leave in Season 2 and lets them go away because he knows they’re in danger around him. And that’s going to remain true this season as well. It’s something that we are thinking about constantly, and it’s not forgotten.

I think about my family. I want them to live forever, and especially around someone like myself—Negan, in this case. But Negan is going into such a shift this season, hopefully into Season 4. I think that can be used and should be in a way that makes sense for everybody. Believe me, it’s in all of our brains and we’re all aware of it, and it’s not going to go away.”

Where do we find Negan emotionally this season after losing his family and Ginny [Mahina Napoleon]:

“He’s a mess. I think that’s the way he kind of put all of his family energy into Ginny, who at that time needed him more than his family probably needed him, because at least they were safe. Ginny wasn’t. A lot of that dad went into Ginny, which also adds to where we find Negan at the beginning of this year. It’s not only that he sent his family away, but it’s that he lost Ginny, who became his chosen family as well. It’s a rough spot for Negan to be in.”

The Walking Dead: Dead City debuts new episodes from season three every Sunday on AMC.

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Photo Credit: Robert Clark/AMC