Why Negan was the hardest villain to cast on 'The Walking Dead'
The INSIDER Summary:
- Negan was the hardest villain to cast on "The Walking Dead."
- The casting call referred to Negan as "Orin" to try and keep the role secret.
- "The Walking Dead" casting directors tell INSIDER an Irish actor came close to getting the part.
- Jeffrey Dean Morgan, a big fan of the comics, landed the role.
- It may not have turned out that way since he was already working on the CBS show "The Good Wife."
Casting the many villains on "The Walking Dead" is no easy feat, but the hardest villain to cast on the show was the latest — and perhaps most important — antagonist, Negan.
"The Good Wife" actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan eventually landed the role of the foul-mouthed, bat-swinging leader of the Saviors, but "The Walking Dead" cast directors Sherry Thomas and Sharon Bialy tell INSIDER it was an arduous process to find the right man to play opposite Andrew Lincoln.
"It was very extensive. We went worldwide," said Bialy who recalled seeing a lot of wonderful actors for the part.
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"[He] was always [at] the top [of the list], but there were two other actors, I don't know if it's fair to say their names, who were fantastic," Bialy continued. "One from Ireland, who came really close, who I'm sure you'll see starring in something else one day because he was talented. We reached out to a couple of actors that we thought of who were in London or Ireland."
Bialy and Thomas wouldn't divulge any names, but musician and "Sons of Anarchy" actor Henry Rollins, who was the inspiration for the comic character, was among those who auditioned for the part.
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But they believe they ended up with the right man for the job. It helped that Jeffrey Dean Morgan was pretty familiar with the character himself. He was so familiar with Negan that he ended up guessing the part without even knowing who was really being cast.
At Supernatural's PasCon in Pasadena, California in 2015, Morgan told a crowd how he received a phone call about the role from his agent with very little detail.
"My agent and manager called and they said you've been offered this thing on 'The Walking Dead.' It's to play like a big bad. At that time, they didn't know the character's name because I think it was supposed to be a secret," said Morgan. "And I'm like, 'Is it f---ing Negan?' And they're like, 'I don't know, we're going to have to call you back. Hold on a second.' And I'm like, 'No, it's f---ing Negan. And I'm f---ing doing it,'" said Morgan.
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"He was a huge fan of the comics. With every role that Sherry and I cast, on 'The Walking Dead,' there is a fake name," said Bialy. "It wasn't out there that we were casting Negan. Now, with that particular role, many people guessed it. But, that is true. We gave the fake name to the agent, but Jeffrey figured it out."
'The Walking Dead' forum The Spoiling Dead came across the name Orin along with a casting call description back in 2015 that sounded a lot like the character. They were right. Bialy and Thomas told us Orin was the fake name they used while casting Negan.
"We discussed a list of actors with [showrunner] Scott Gimple and I think, by the way, Gimple and we thought he was really perfect for it," said Sharon. "[Morgan] had the right combination of charm and depth and sexuality and power."
The question was just whether or not Morgan would be available for the role since he was on a popular CBS show.
"It was complicated because at the time he was doing 'The Good Wife' so it was really getting them to work with us and everybody chipping in to make it work," said Bialy. "In a different situation, people might have said, 'It's too complicated. We can't do it.' But we have [the] best producer in Hollywood, I think, who figured it out."
Morgan actually pulled double duty during his first appearance on season six of "The Walking Dead." Executive producer and season six finale director Greg Nicotero told press at San Diego Comic-Con in 2016 Morgan flew in from filming "The Good Wife" to film his entrance onto the show.
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Bialy and Thomas said while Negan was the toughest of the villains to cast, they shared the villains are always the most challenging characters to add on the show.
"They're usually not one dimensional," said Thomas. "And they sometimes are not what they appear to be."
That's something that was very true of several of the show's previous baddies, including the Governor. The one-eyed madman who stormed Rick's prison in season three, received his own flashbacks which showed another, slightly softer side to the brutal and unforgiving man audiences came to see.
The same may come in time with Negan as well. As comic fans already know, there's a heartbreaking reason why the crass leader carries around a baseball bat named Lucille. (We're not spoiling!)
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And about that rumor that Jon Hamm was up for playing Negan? Well, we asked the duo about that, too. Let's just say, don't believe everything you hear on the internet, folks. Both said there's a big difference between throwing names around for the roles and actually testing and auditioning them for the part.
"You discuss a wide range of ideas in order to really find the right one and I think that's something Sherry talks about a lot," said Bialy. "People don't realize that there's a process to it. Even when you think it through. So, you want to take an actor like Jon Hamm, who's so talented, and think, could that work?"
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"And a lot of times, that comes from us just talking to the agent," added Thomas. "If they're not available, then you don't even want to have that conversation with your creatives and your producers. We wouldn't be doing our job if we weren't turning over every stone and having those conversations about really important actors."
We'll have to wait until October to see more of Negan on "The Walking Dead."
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