Jeffrey Dean Morgan Comments on Playing THE WALKING DEAD’s Negan

This past Thanksgiving, many horror fans had something extra to be thankful for: the casting of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan on AMC's The Walking Dead. Adding to the anticipation, Morgan recently shared his thoughts on gearing up to play the iconic character in an interview with Entertainment Weekly Radio.

Talking with ET Radio's Jessica Shaw and Dalton Ross, Jeffrey Dean Morgan discussed his love for Robert Kirkman's living dead comic book series and how he's reading and re-reading issues for reference points on the leader of The Saviors:

"I think what’s there in the comic books and the graphic novels is this foundation of this man and the complexities of who he is. Every time I look at the graphic novel — which in the past few weeks next to my bedside I’ve just had stacks of Walking Dead stuff; and so when I’m not memorizing my Good Wife lines and trying to figure that out I’ll just grab one of these things and look at it — and I will read and reread and see something different in it each time."

When ET asked Morgan how similar Kirkman's version of Negan will be to the onscreen depiction, Morgan stressed that they are striving to make his performance as faithful an adaptation as possible, despite how foul-mouthed Negan is in the comic books:

"The character itself is going to be as close as humanly possible... We’re going to push AMC — the plan is to push them as far as they can because it’s who Negan is. He uses some colorful language... It’s our intention that this character is going to leap off the pages of the comic book. It’s very important that that’s who it is."

When asked if he has been introduced to the TV series' version of Lucille, the barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat wielded (and loved) by Negan in the comics, Morgan had this to say:

"I have. She is gorgeous. She is a beautiful girl."

To read more highlights from ET Radio's interview and listen to their full chat with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, visit:

• http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/08/walking-dead-jeffrey-dean-morgan-negan

As fans of Robert Kirkman's comic book series know, Negan is a notorious leader of a group of survivors known as The Saviors. A big man with a warped sense of humor and a penchant for dropping "F-bombs", Negan enforces his rules with a barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat he lovingly calls Lucille. Local communities are forced to comply with Negan's demands for food and other resources, or risk the wrath of his swing.

Negan first appeared in issue #100, making an immediate impact on readers' psyches with his horrifying slaying of a key character, leading to the action-packed events of the massive "All Out War" story arc. Stay tuned to Daily Dead for more updates on The Walking Dead.