The most famous villain from The Walking Dead is Negan, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. For a very short time, however, another actor had the role in the series and he would have portrayed it very differently.
Negan makes his first impressive appearance in episode 16 of season 6. With his menacing presence and the infamous cliffhanger, Jeffrey Dean Morgan catapulted this role into the hearts of fans. Even though one of his actions went too far for other actors.
Outside of the actual series, he was equally present, as he was a playable DLC fighter in Tekken 7. But there were also other actors who wanted to play his role. One was even almost guaranteed to get the role – for 10 minutes.
I would have simply been much cheekier and funnier
Which actor almost had the role? Matthew Lillard spoke in Kristian Harloff’s podcast (Source: YouTube) about various parts of his career. During the conversation, Harloff asks him if there are roles he has turned down. He recounts the story of his audition for the role of Negan.
Lillard had the role, at least for a very short time: At some point at Comic-Con, the creator of the series came up to me and said: “You have no idea, you had the role for 10 minutes.”
Jeffrey Dean Morgan was offered the role, but as he could not decide, they looked for another actor. They then opted for Lillard, but since Morgan’s agent called again, he ended up getting the role.
In the podcast, Lillard says that he would have had 10 years of work with it. Negan as a character not only appeared in 6 seasons of the main series, but he even got his own spin-off. Together with Lauren Cohan as Maggie, Jeffrey Dean Morgan has the lead role in The Walking Dead: Dead City, for which season 3 is currently in the works.
What does Lillard say about Morgan’s performance? Lillard himself acknowledges how well-known Negan is as a character and also states that Morgan is a great actor. His Negan is very masculine and tough.
He would have taken a different approach:
I would have simply been much cheekier and funnier, and he was such a real badass and totally masculine – we would have had completely different approaches.
How has Matthew Lillard’s career progressed? Many know Matthew Lillard primarily as the Ghostface killer in Scream (1998). Since then, he has not had many iconic roles, but he has continued his career very productively. He appeared in both Scooby-Doo movies (2002 and 2004) or in 2017 in the continuation of Twin Peaks.
Gaming fans may also know him from the film adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023). Currently, he can even be seen in a Marvel role. In season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again (2026), he takes on the role of the new character Mr. Charles. You can read more about Negan here: The worst guy from The Walking Dead was already a really nasty villain before the apocalypse
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