Negan's Fate In The Walking Dead's New Alternate Timeline Is Worse Than The Zombie Outbreak
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Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3, episode 6, "Genesis" and mentions of sexual assault and suicide. Reader discretion is advised.
Negan's brash and destructive personality has created a complicated history for the former villain in The Walking Dead, yet his fate in Dead City's alternate timeline somehow feels even worse. As arguably the franchise's most impactful antagonist, Negan made an instant impression on audiences when he killed Glenn and Abraham in one of his very first appearances.
Murdering two fan favorites in such a brutal fashion — especially as a pregnant Maggie was forced to watch her husband die — made Negan seem completely irredeemable, yet he has slowly shown signs of progress. After losing the war to Rick, he was imprisoned for around seven to eight years, being left in almost complete isolation.
Even after escaping and helping kill Alpha, he was only reluctantly accepted into the Commonwealth by some survivors, and was clearly never going to be fully welcome. All these years later, Negan has returned to his violent ways in Dead City, even giving up a chance to be with his family since he feels they're better off without him.
Despite how tragically things have turned out for him, there are clear signs of regret and humanity, suggesting he could have a somewhat bright future if he learns to play nice with others. However, his life in the franchise's alternate future is much bleaker than meets the eye and makes the outbreak look like a blessing in disguise.
Dead City introduced a new timeline that saw Beth make her Walking Dead return, since there are no zombies in this world. Here, Negan is as charming and infectious as ever, but despite seeming like a happy man who has his life together on the surface, "Genesis" reveals just how much worse things turned out for him.
Without The Zombie Outbreak, Negan Never Becomes A Better Husband
The zombie outbreak rocked many people's worlds, including Negan's, yet in some ways, it actually helped him become a better man. Before falling down the path of becoming the ruthless Saviors leader, Negan was an unfaithful husband trying to make amends for his past by taking care of Lucille.
When she revealed her cancer diagnosis to Negan, he stopped his affair and concentrated on getting her the treatment she needed, even as the outbreak began. He spent time scavenging for medical equipment and even taught himself to administer chemotherapy, all in an attempt to keep Lucille alive and reconcile with her.
Ultimately, Lucille forgave Negan for his past and didn't want him to burden himself any longer, taking her own life to set him free. Her fate was undoubtedly tragic, but it at least gave Negan the chance to be a better husband, something that didn't seem to happen in Dead City's alternate timeline.
During his conversation with Maggie, he revealed that his wife had died and that he proceeded to move on with multiple women. Although he doesn't speak about Lucille with contempt, she doesn't seem to have a lasting impact on him in this timeline, whereas she was constantly on his mind after the outbreak, so much so that he named his weapon after her.
The outbreak forced Negan to be present in Lucille's life; otherwise, she had no chance of survival. In contrast, this new reality implies that she could've been treated under regular circumstances, and even if this did result in Negan stepping up to some degree, it doesn't seem like they reconciled in the same way.
Negan may have plenty of character problems in The Walking Dead's main continuity, but he was at least able to get closure with his wife. In this other world, he never gets that, which undoubtedly impacts how his life played out thereafter.
Negan Still Becomes An Absent Father
After meeting Annie in The Walking Dead's final season, Negan was finally able to begin a new life, as the two had a child together. Unfortunately, after Annie was robbed, Negan sent her and their son Joshua to Missouri while he stayed behind to keep them safe, leaving him absent from his child's life.
Dead City offered him the chance to reunite with his family, but he turned it down, believing they'd be better off without him. The Negan from the alternate timeline mimics these feelings, as once again he becomes a father, and once again he is relatively uninvolved in his son's life.
While it's unclear exactly what happened between him and his partner in this timeline, Negan reveals to Maggie that he only really speaks to his son on Christmas and his birthdays. He also sends money here and there, but other than that, he leaves his son be, feeling his presence would likely be a negative influence on his child's life.
At least the outbreak provides a reasonable excuse as to why he wouldn't want to be with his family. Negan and Rick's war in The Walking Dead left him with plenty of enemies, and while he made amends with some of them, there are plenty of people out there who still hate him, a list that continues to grow in Dead City.
He was a wanted man by New Babylon, and with the former Saviors leader being a constant source of danger, it's understandable why he feels his wife and son are better off without him. In contrast, Negan's criminal record isn't exactly a huge deterrent from seeing his son in the other timeline.
While he may fear his reckless behavior could rub off on his child, there is plenty of time to change and be a good role model. Instead, he opts to be an absent father, and when he finally makes the call to try and reconnect, he instantly throws this away in pursuit of vengeance.
Negan's Self-Sacrificial Vigilantism Proves He Has Nothing To Live For
It's likely Negan's son may grow up without a dad in The Walking Dead's new timeline, as Negan's vigilantism almost certainly landed him in jail, proving he has nothing to live for. Even though he's a parent, the central character still chose to shoot a man, presumably killing him, in an attempt to get justice.
Earlier in the episode, Negan reveals that he went to jail after attacking a man named Alan, who he believes sexually assaulted one of his softball students, leading to her taking her own life. Despite serving two years in prison for beating the man, Negan wasn't done and wanted to kill him before Maggie intervened.
When Negan decided to let Alan go despite having him at gunpoint, this seemed to indicate he was ready to move on and be part of his child's life again. However, during the episode's climax, he decided to end the phone call with his son before approaching Alan and shooting him, which implied he killed the man.
The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3 consists of eight episodes that air every Sunday on AMC/ AMC+.
It's clear that Negan's quest for revenge comes from a good place, and with Alan having connections to the police, a conviction isn't easy to get. Still, choosing to throw his own life away despite having a son out there shows that Negan doesn't believe he has anything worth living for out there.
Even if he convinces himself otherwise, his actions prove that he doesn't care about what happens deep down. His mistakes may seem harder to come back from in the main timeline, yet there's a constant attempt to be better, whereas in this alternate future, Negan simply refuses to let go.
He may have ridden the world of someone evil, but he's likely thrown away a future with his son in the process. Therefore, without the outbreak, Negan actually suffers a worse fate than in The Walking Dead, as Dead City season 3's main timeline still offers him a chance to turn things around again and find redemption.
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Maggie Rhee and Negan travel into post-apocalyptic Manhattan, a city isolated from the mainland and overrun by walkers and competing factions. Forced into an uneasy partnership, they pursue a dangerous mission tied to Maggie’s past.
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- Created by
- Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, Charlie Adlard
- First TV Show
- The Walking Dead
- Latest TV Show
- The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live
- Upcoming TV Shows
- More Tales from the Walking Dead Universe
- First Episode Air Date
- October 31, 2010
- Cast
- Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Danai Gurira, Lauren Cohan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chandler Riggs, Steven Yeun, Lennie James
The Walking Dead is a massive multimedia franchise that began with a comic book series created by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. The franchise gained widespread popularity with the launch of the television series The Walking Dead in 2010 on AMC, which chronicles the lives of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies, referred to as "walkers." The success of the original show has led to numerous spin-offs, web series, video games, novels, and other media. The franchise explores themes of survival, human nature, and the breakdown of society in the face of an existential threat, making it one of the most successful and influential horror series of the 21st century.
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