Even if you’ve never watched much of The Walking Dead, you may know who Negan and Lucille are. Negan is the dirtbag who made life a living hell for Rick Grimes and the rest of the survivors, while Lucille is his trusty barb-wired baseball bat.
But later in Season 8, we get word that the Lucille name is in honor of Negan’s wife before the zombie apocalypse, and things start to make a little more sense in the character development of one of the most polarizing characters in the series.
So now that Negan’s wife has been announced to appear in the final episodes of Season 10, fans may wonder how in the world this is even possible.
Warning! The following contains major spoilers for Seasons 6-10.
It really is a confusing story, especially when you take the comics into consideration, so let’s try to make heads or tails out of the situation with Negan and Lucille.
First off, it’s important to note that the role of Lucille in Season 10 will be played by Hilarie Burton-Morgan, real life spouse of Negan actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan. While she may be best known for her role as Peyton on One Tree Hill, she’s also had roles on Grey’s Anatomy, Castle, and even Dawson’s Creek.
The basis of the Lucille story goes like this: Negan shows up in Season 6 as the charismatic leader of The Saviors. He bashes some skulls, terrorizes Rick and his crew all throughout Season 7, and then finally begins to break down his evil facade in Season 8 to reveal that he named his beloved weapon after his former wife who died of cancer.
“My first wife was a real wife. My only real wife,” Negan revealed to Father Gabriel in the ‘Big Scary U’ episode. “Till death did us part. It was before this. I lied to her, I screwed around with her… And she was sick… And when she went… When she went it was during this… I couldn’t put her down… That is how I was weak.”
NEGAN AND LUCILLE I’M GONNA CRY pic.twitter.com/0d1OV5jEV8
— lara (@hilariesarizona) February 18, 2021
So we know that Lucille was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and during her treatments, Negan fooled around on her. But when the Wildfire Outbreak happened in 2010, the couple moved to an underground bunker to survive the zombie apocalypse. That is, until she succumbed to the illness and died. But when she turned undead, Negan just couldn’t bring himself to take her out, so it’s assumed that she carried on, roaming around with hordes, eating people, and all that good stuff.
In the comics, a 6-part issue entitled “Here’s Negan” describes this in greater detail, with one major change: Undead Lucille is killed by a character named Jeremy. Negan then buries his twice-dead wife, as shown by a grave stone in Issue 193.
With this in mind, it’s hard to imagine how Lucille can be back on the TV show. The preview trailer for the final episodes of Season 10 show a very-much human Lucille firing a gun, which leaves fans of the comic thoroughly confused.
In a table-read for the upcoming “Here’s Negan” episode (set to air on April 4), we see that it will focus on the events of 12 years earlier, when Negan and Lucille as surviving in the basement after the outbreak begins. So we do know that the TV version of “Here’s Negan” will flesh out Lucille’s backstory a bit and hopefully explain more about what happened.
You don’t want to upset Negan do you? #TWD returns February 28th or stream it early with @AMCPlus. pic.twitter.com/3fDt2noiIv
— The Walking Dead on AMC (@WalkingDead_AMC) February 13, 2021
But as for her presumed death, I’m assuming that there will be an explanation about how she didn’t actually die when Negan left her for dead. Either he knew this and is more of a scumbag than we thought, or he genuinely thought she died and her reanimation was something else entirely.
Since the TV show didn’t go into detail about a guy named Jeremy smashing her zombie head in and there’s no mention of a burial or tombstone, then we have to assume that they left those comic book details out of the TV show on purpose as a loophole to eventually bring her back.
Or, in true TWD style, we’ll see some craziness that we never even imagined before, and it will all make perfect sense in the end.
Either way, I can’t wait to see Negan’s reaction when he sees her.
The final six episodes of Season 10 will begin on February 28th as the show leads us into the 11th and final season later this year.
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