“There’s like gravitational pull…”: ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Showrunner’s Comments on Fans Shipping Maggie and Negan Will Make the OG Fans Revolt
- The Walking Dead: Dead City is the first sequel to the main 10 seasoned series.
- Showrunner Eli Jorné weighs in on the chemistry between the lead characters Maggie and Negan.
- Fans want the show to explore the relationship, but some original series' fans might not be impressed.
The Walking Dead is one of those franchises that fans just cannot get enough of. No matter how long it has been since the foundations of the franchise were laid, the story is still as fresh as ever which is why fans never seem to tire of it. While the main series came to an end in 2022, the first sequel, The Walking Dead: Dead City, was released last year and is returning for a second season.
Besides the story’s main motive to explore themes of survival and the complexities of human nature, there is also romance in the blend. Fans have been proposing a ship between the characters Maggie and Negan, and recently, the showrunner has also added his two cents to it. However, all of this might not sit right with the fans of the original series due to the two characters’ history.
The Walking Dead: Dead City Showrunner Weighed in on the Chemistry Between Maggie and Negan
The Walking Dead: Dead City was created by Eli Jorné, who also serves as showrunner. The post-apocalyptic drama series is the fifth series in the franchise and primarily focuses on the characters Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). They travel to post-apocalyptic Manhattan to look for Maggie’s son.
The pair-up is a little unconventional considering Negan had killed Maggie’s husband Glenn in a violent show of power in the original show. This instilled a deep sense of hatred in Maggie and also a desire to seek vengeance for her husband’s murder.
However, the two characters evolve and are brought together to navigate new challenges together in the spin-off. This has led to some fans believing that there is hope for the two characters to have a romantic relationship.
When asked about this by Comic Book, showrunner Eli Jorné said that he too has been shipping them for quite some time. He further explained:
No, no, I mean look, there’s this gravitational pull between these characters and yeah, it’s like fire, but I mean, that’s to me when I worked on The Walking Dead as a writer.
Jorné believes that the characters have a fire-like dynamic and it is something that he is up for exploring. So far, there have been no such insinuations in the show, but there is no telling what the second season or any other upcoming seasons have in store for them.
Fans Are Quite Eager to See Negan and Maggie as a Couple
Although Maggie has good reason to hate Negan after what he did, her evolution as a leader and Negan growing remorseful and regretful of his actions despite his initial arrogance seem to have ignited an entirely different between them, or at least so the fans believe.
Here is what some of them had to say on X:
Despite all this buzz around this ship that has been named ‘Neggie’, there are some fans who are against it. They believe that they have no business being a couple due to their rocky past. The ultimate decision lies in the hands of those making it, but whether or not fans will make peace with it remains to be seen.
The Walking Dead: Dead City is available for streaming on amc+.
