Summary

• Jeffrey Dean Morgan returns as Negan with Lucille in The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2, exciting fans of the spin-off series.
• Lucille holds significant meaning for Negan, symbolizing power and his complex past, suggesting a new phase in his journey.
• Season 2 of Dead City promises deeper conflicts between Negan, Maggie, and a new alliance with Dama, keeping fans on their toes.

Filming on The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 is continuing, and a new set video has revealed the return of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, along with one of his oldest friends. Captured during a break in filming, the video shared on X/Twitter sees Morgan wearing Negan’s iconic leather jacket ensemble and brandishing his old girl, Lucille. While there is no way of telling whether this is for a flashback sequence or whether Negan has somehow reclaimed his favorite weapon, fans have been happy with the idea of Negan getting back to work for the upcoming season of the spin-off series.

The Walking Dead: Dead City made a triumphant debut in 2023, delivering stronger reviews than any of the flagship series’ final seasons, and viewing figures to match. The series continues the stories of Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan as they head to Manhattan in search of Maggie’s kidnapped son, Hershel (Logan Kim). The end of the first season delivered a cliffhanger that left fans wanting more, and with the show being renewed for Season 2 immediately, at least this is one that is not going to leave them hanging forever.

The new set video’s reveal of Negan carrying Lucille once again could mean many things, although given the general appearance of Morgan, a flashback of some kind is the most likely explanation of why he appears to be back in old Negan mode with his trusty barbed-wire bat. You can check out the video below:

Why is Lucille So Significant to Negan?

The reappearance of Lucille in the hands of Negan is a significant moment for many reasons. Throughout The Walking Dead, Lucille has been more than just a weapon; it’s a symbol of Negan’s power and his complex relationship with his past. The bat, named after his late wife, has seen several incarnations, with Negan creating replacements as each incarnation was destroyed in some way. The last time we saw Lucille, the bat was being ceremoniously burned by Negan himself as he moved on from his past life.

With Negan rediscovering some of his old ways in Dead City, it is very possible that he could have crafted another new version of Lucille to help him through the next phase of his Walking Dead journey. The post-apocalyptic Manhattan he and Maggie found trouble in is one that could see Negan reclaiming the kind of authority he wielded when he made his first appearance in The Walking Dead, in one of the series' best and most watched episodes.

The relationship between Negan and Maggie is one that has always been strained at best, and the events of Season 1’s finale only served to further escalate the animosity between the pair. Season 2 promises to deepen the conflict as Negan potentially aligns with Dama (Lisa Emery), positioning himself against Maggie in the battle for Manhattan. Meanwhile, Maggie is torn over her own actions and has a choice of her own to make over whether to leave Negan to his own devices, or attempt to save him from Dama’s influence.

There is currently no air date for Dead City Season 2, but fans of the franchise can bridge the gap with the return of another Walking Dead spin-off, Daryl Dixon: The Book of Carol, which premieres this summer on AMC.