AMC's The Walking Dead is quite far into its comic counterpart, which means some big changes are about to happen in the series. Two weeks ago we had one of the biggest comic adaptations come to life, which followed another prominent character in last week's episode.
But fans of the franchise know that the biggest comic adaptation comes in the form of Jeffrey Dean Morgan's portrayal of Negan. The highly anticipated curse word swearing, bat-swinging, the total badass character is scheduled to make his big arrival in the season 6's finale.
Entertainment Weekly recently sat down with some of the head producers at The Walking Dead and had a chance to talk about how they are going to handle Negan's entrance since basically every other word he says is a swear, here's what they had to say:
Robert Kirkman
Comic creator, exec producer
“I would say that there are certain words that try as I might, we are not allowed to say on AMC, and those are certain words that Negan likes to say. So those words are going to be filmed, and people are going to be able to get those words, but there are definitely some broadcast limitations that we’re going to have to deal with. We’re sorting that out now, but I will say that worst-case scenario, the extras will be extra-special on Blu-ray. I mean, we’re trying to explore some other more interesting options, but that’s the bare minimum of what we’ll be doing.”Scott M. Gimple
Showrunner, exec producer
“I’m still finishing up season 6, so there are still aspects of these questions that I’m figuring out. But I will say that my goal is for, at the very least, in some way — might not be all the time, and it might not even be directly through your TV box — that people will be able to get full-octane Negan. I’m still playing around with it, but I will say I do have the material two ways right now. I’ll see what I can do with it. One way or another I want people to see full-octane Negan. Will I be able to shoot every scene like that? Probably not, but to tell you the truth, I think we will get as close to the version of full-octane Negan as we can through some version of the show or another.”Greg Nicotero
Director, exec producer
[On if he shot Negan’s entrance in the season finale two ways] “That would be a very good guess. We’ve talked about that. Even back when Michael Cudlitz was cast as Abraham we were like, ‘Damn, how are we going to deal with Abraham’s dialogue?’ And I think Gimple went, ‘Yeah, Abraham’s dialogue is fine. It’s Negan that we’re going to have problems with because every other word of Negan’s is f—.’ There is a rhythm to it that even in some of the takes that we did. What I affectionately call the ‘f— takes’ have a completely different rhythm to them and a completely different feel. So while editing it, I was very careful to make sure that I preserved a lot of the performance without getting myself into trouble with the profanity
Hopefully, viewers will be able to get the true adaptation to Negan when he makes his big entrance, but either way, fans will get to see it when the Blu-ray version hits retail as they shot two different entrances – one with profanity and the other with none.
Recently Andrew Lincoln ( Rick Grimes) praised the craziness that Morgan brings to the show while stating how important his new role is to the franchise. "This is probably one of the most important castings other than Rick. He's a beloved fan-favorite, but also a huge foil to Rick and his family. Everybody needs a good baddie, and this is the one that a lot of people have been waiting for for quite some time."
The Walking Dead airs every Sunday at 9 PM EST on AMC.
