The 7 best (and 6 worst) characters in The Walking Dead

Negan

As much as I hate to say it, Negan is one of the weaker characters on The Walking Dead. Jeffrey Dean Morgan has done an absolutely phenomenal job bringing him to life, but the show itself has consistently had the character bend towards the will of the plot that his journey has gotten so repetitive.

The outline of that journey is great. We all love a redemption story, and Negan has that down to a tee. However, the flaws came from the characterization and the pacing of the story. For starters, the show had him go from terrifying to campy real quick, and the amount of time that the survivors took to take him down resulted in a lot more character shifts (and campiness) along the way. He did benefit from some wonderful character development after his capture but most of that took place off-screen.

When his story was brought to a poignant end at the conclusion of The Walking Dead, spinoff Dead City set him back a little just to force more conflict and sow more seeds of doubt between him and Maggie – who had already acknowledged that he changed in the main show’s series finale.

On paper, Negan’s arc was incredibly successful, so it’s easy to see why many appreciate his redemption arc, but the back-and-forth of it all prevented it from truly living up to what it could have been – even if Jeffrey Dean Morgan was exhilarating in the role.

Verdict: WORST