The Walking Dead season 8 could use some ‘Here’s Negan’ material
If that backstory did not exist, we’d almost say that it makes more sense to just give us the character in the present, and do something a little more similar to Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men. There’s something incredibly compelling about a bad guy that exists simply to be bad, and you don’t know or understand much of their motivation for it.
Yet, that toothpaste is already out of the metaphorical tube. There’s a precedent for Negan backstory, and we might as well get it on the show. This is something that executive producer Scott M. Gimple commented on further when discussing the subject in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter on the subject:
“I have thought about incorporating that … Negan’s backstory has been weaved into his comic tenure and we do want to introduce it a little earlier than it was in the comics. So yes, but we’re building it up.”
In the midst of all the action going on at the start of The Walking Dead season 8 (early indications are that the first few episodes are going to be tremendously action-packed), one of the things that we could imagine seeing is a change-of-pace episode where we stop in and focus on Negan for a little while. It’s something that this show does like to do, and maybe there was a time when this guy wasn’t so commandeering or crazy. They’ve done a good job of making him formidable on the show — Sunday’s finale (read the full review here) was one of the first times that Rick’s had any sort of victory against him, but it was a rather small victory given that the majority of the Saviors are still alive and they now have a chance to regroup.
What do you think: Is there something interesting that could come out of seeing Negan’s backstory on The Walking Dead season 8? Share in the comments. (Photo: AMC.)