‘The Walking Dead’ has never been over zombies’

The Canneseries -Première of “The Walking Dead: Dead City” was a specially for his star, Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The actor, who left his handprints on the Cannes Walk of Fame, was accompanied by actor Hilarie Burton and their two children and called the experience ‘an incredible honor’. Creeks with Variety After the journey, the actor flowed about his real life and the one he made while working on the world of ‘The Walking Dead’.

“The Walk of Fame, was huge,” he adds. “To have made my family there, made it even more special. I love my children and my wife so much. My wife had never been to Cannes; my daughter had never walked a carpet in her life, and boy, she took it like a fish for water. Both children did it. [my son] Gus would run away with a Multi-Picture deal from Paramount, he was just so cool. ”

“The Walking Dead: Dead City” is the first sequel to “The Walking Dead” and the fifth series in the franchise. It follows Dean’s fan favorite anti-hero Negan and his Archnemesis Maggie (Lauren Cohan) while they travel to a post-apocalyptic Manhattan that have been cut off from the mainland for a long time. The last season follows the escalation of the war to take over New York, with the leading duo fighting on the opposite sides.

Asked what it feels like to go into his tenth year and play Negan and his plans to keep doing this in the near future, Morgan says it is “crazy”. “This has been a part of my life for so long that I never imagine that it will end unless I finally say that I am too old to do this more, where I get dangerously close. It is interesting, especially this spider with two characters who want to kill each other 90% of the time, because I had never heard that this was a workable concept.

The actor, who became a member of “The Walking Dead” in the iconic final of season 6, originally believed that he would only play the character for four years, but the creative team continued to “seduce” him with new corners and storylines. The actor saw his first performance join a moving train, while now he is the conductor of his spin-off, who heralds new talent, such as Dascha Polanco and Gaius Charles.

“I don’t know if I am a conductor,” he replies humbly. “But it feels like I’m one of the veterans now. I feel that I have earned my stripes. 10 years is a long time. This is not an easy show to do in any way, mentally and certainly physically, so I am surprised that I am still able to deduct my part of it.”

Morgan, who signs as an executive producer in addition to Cohan, says that the creative role is ‘his favorite part’. “Especially making decisions about the cast and crew, because that is your family. This is with whom I will spend it six months a day, every day, 14 hours a day, so you want to find people you love, because we don’t want bastards in the show. ‘The Walking Dead’ has always been good in choosing great people.

There is also the timeliness of ‘Dead City’, which continues discussions about greed, the struggle for resources, energy such as currency and the exceptional nature of privileges. This connection with not only the spirit of the times, but the existential is a quality of the entire franchise, says Morgan. “The show was never about zombies or hikers. It’s always about people.”

The actor also remembers how “The Walking Dead” writer and producer Scott M. Gimple recently told him that Robert Kirkman originally wrote the series with slow walkers because they can be “beaten”. “It should not be huge pain to kill slow walkers. But to defeat them, you have to work together, and the problem is that people do not have the opportunity to work together, and that is really the series, and every iteration of ‘The Walking Dead’ is about the fact that people cannot get along. It is a good conversation starter.”

And for long -existing fans of the universe, “Dead City” brings a special treat: the return of Negan’s notorious weapon, Lucille. The bat wrapped in barbed wire is back in a new iteration and informs a lot of Negan’s trip in season 2.

“I knew she would be a year ago before we started shooting, and I was excited,” Morgan recalls. “I am not a Prop actor. I know some actors [whose props] Inform their whole character and I had never had such a plug until I met Lucille. I fully understand now. Having her back in my hands was more important to me, Jeff, than even for Negan. Negan has been thrown away a bit to have Lucille back in his life. Jeff was damn excited. I thought it was great. I don’t let the Prop boys take her from me. She goes to my trailer with me, she goes with me to traditional services. I keep her with me all day and don’t let people play with her, “he laughs.

Morgan sees Negan’s relationship with his weapon as one of ‘love and hatred’, because the return also indicates the return of the ‘performative’ Negan that we meet for the first time in the show. “There is a lot of fighting in Negan, and Lucille has a lot to do with that. I think she represents so much for him, but when he burned her in ‘Lord’s Negan’, he tried to get rid of a part of his life, and now that is coming back to his world. Much of this season is Negan is to do that.”

“The Walking Dead: Dead City” season 2 will premiere 4 May 2025, only on AMC and AMC+. Jorné acts as a showrunner and executive producer in the series, which is checked by Gimple. Cohan and Morgan also serve as executive producers, together with Brian Bockrath.