Jeffrey Dean Morgan Says He’s “Getting Dangerously Close To” Ending His Time In ‘The Walking Dead’ Universe

This Sunday marks the return of The Walking Dead: Dead City — one of three spin-offs that spawned in the wake of the flagship series bowing out after 11 seasons. Fans will tune in for the show’s second season to uncover the next chapter in the story of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan and Lauren Cohan’s Maggie, both of whom have been part of the zombie-filled universe since its very early days. Still, despite enjoying this piece of his career and the job security that it’s given him, Morgan says he’s coming dangerously close to unslicking his hair, taking off his leather jacket, and putting his character’s beloved barbed wire-covered baseball bat — Lucille — into a museum somewhere.

During a recent chat with Variety, the actor said that his time with the series is ticking down, revealing,

“This has been part of my life for so long now that I don’t ever picture it ending unless I finally say I’m too old to do this anymore, which I am getting dangerously close to.”

Storming onto the scene in the show’s sixth season, Morgan’s Negan quickly became one of the most hated (if not the most hated) characters in the history of The Walking Dead. After a cliffhanger that carried viewers from the sixth into the seventh season, audiences really turned against Negan when he made the destructive and diabolical decision to brutally kill a series favorite — Steven Yeun’s Glenn — with his baseball bat, Lucille.

Not only did it put the character at odds with the fandom, but it also pitted him against the leading protagonists, with Cohan’s Maggie at the forefront, considering Glenn was her beloved husband and the father of their child, Hershel (Logan Kim). And yet, the entire foundation of Dead City centers on the unlikely pair of Negan and Maggie traveling to New York City on a high-stakes mission to rescue Hershel — a plot that even Morgan was unsure would play well with fans.

“It’s interesting, especially doing this spinoff with two characters who want to kill each other 90% of the time, because I had never heard of this being a workable concept before. Yet, here we are, with season two coming out and talking about doing more. We’ll see.”

‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Brings Another Favorite Back to the Fold

In addition to Negan and Maggie, another beloved member of The Walking Dead family is back in action in the upcoming second season of Dead City. Despite being burned down to ashes in Season 10, Lucille the baseball bat will somehow find its way back to Negan in the next set of episodes. Reflecting on this very one-of-a-kind reunion, Morgan said,

“I knew she’d be back a year before we started shooting, and I was excited. I’m not a prop actor. I know some actors [whose props] inform their whole character, and I had never had a prop like that until I met Lucille. I completely understand it now. To have her back in my hands was more important to me, Jeff, than it was even to Negan. Negan is a little bit thrown off having Lucille back in his life. Jeff was fucking thrilled. I loved it. I don’t let the prop guys take her from me. She goes to my trailer with me, she goes to craft services with me. I keep her with me all day long and don’t let people play with her.”

Season 2 of The Walking Dead: Dead City arrives on AMC this Sunday, May 4.