INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

‘Walking Dead’ Spoilers: Will Daryl Replace Carl For Negan?

By Shawn Lealos
Published on: 06:37 PST, Jul 5, 2016

In the Walking Dead comic books, Negan was one of the most interesting villains to come along in the series. He trumped the Governor in almost every area and was not only evil and dangerous but also devious and very charismatic. Negan could manipulate just about anyone, and the character in the comics got the most time with was Rick’s son, Carl. However, Comicbook.com spoke to showrunner Scott Gimple, who said that relationship may change in the show.

The Walking Dead has been very secretive about spoilers this year, including threatening to sue a Facebook group if they spoil who Negan killed. That makes getting information hard to come by, so when Scott Gimple was asked about Negan manipulating Carl in The Walking Dead TV series, he was coy.

“Whether it’s with Carl or not, I cannot say. I absolutely want to explore Negan having that strange respect for someone which I think was the hallmark of that relationship and we’ll tell versions of that story.”

That makes it sound like The Walking Dead might choose someone other than Carl for this role. There have been photos leaked from the shooting of The Walking Dead Season 7, and some of them showed Carl and Enid together. There is also another young teenage girl coming to the show, as the Inquisitr previously reported that two new characters named Naomi and Jennie were coming, with Jennie as the “world-weary” teenager.

In The Walking Dead Season 6, fans saw what Negan was capable of. He was holding people hostage from the Hilltop to make sure he got the supplies he demanded from them. When he was shorted at one point, he sent someone back to kill Gregory, the leader of the Hilltop. There is no reason to think that Negan won’t go the same to Alexandria.

In the Walking Dead comic books, Negan comes to Alexandria to get the supplies and then embarrasses Rick in front of everyone, proving who the dominant power in the world is now. When they are leaving, Carl sneaks aboard the truck and ends up back at Negan’s camp. That starts a long, complicated relationship between Carl and Negan, one that changed Carl forever.

With that said, there are photos floating around from the shooting of The Walking Dead Season 7 that show Norman Reedus (Daryl) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan) together a lot of the time. At the end of The Walking Dead Season 6, Daryl was shot and hurt pretty bad. When the final scene came and Negan was deciding who to kill, Daryl was still almost too weak to walk on his own. That makes Daryl a good choice for Negan to keep hostage on the next season of The Walking Dead.

When Daryl first appeared in The Walking Dead’s first season, he was shown to be easily manipulated by his big brother, Merle. Since that time, Daryl has grown into one of the best heroes on the show and remains a solid ally. However, he has never really shaken the thought that he doesn’t really belong in this world, and Negan’s world might be something Daryl could actually fall into.

That is not to say that Daryl would be corrupted, but like Carl, he could find something in Negan that is attractive and get manipulated to question his own status in the world. Scott Gimple has made it clear that the manipulation and the respect that Negan finds towards someone will take place in The Walking Dead Season 7, and that could easily be found in the character of Daryl.

[Image via AMC]

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