The upcoming spin-off series The Walking Dead: Dead City has released a teaser trailer that finally reveals why the unlikely partnership between Maggie and Negan is happening in the first place.
The AMC series, in which Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan) teams up with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), an enemy-turned-ally; a couple that fans understandably consider bizarre, as in a franchise-defining moment, Negan brutally murdered Maggie's husband Glenn with a baseball bat in barbed wire.
However, the final teaser shows some important context about Dead City's plot. The clip makes it clear that in the walker-infested streets of the Big Apple, the duo has come together on a mission to rescue Maggie's kidnapped son Hershel, who also happens to be the son of the man who killed Negan. Some new characters also participate in this.
The new Dead City teaser reveals a rescue plot and also gives news of what appears to be a major recast. The scene where Hershel is kidnapped shows an older version of the character than the one last seen in The Walking Dead, most notably through a deeper, post-pubescent voice yelling "Mom!" screams. Indeed, the character was recently played by child actor Kien Michael Spiller, who is currently just 12 years old. Consequently, it can be deduced that Dead City is set several years after the climax of the series, after which Negan left with his new wife Annie (Medina Senghore) to embark on new adventures away from the terrible memories he created.
Of course, the idea of Negan saving Hershel is unfinished business. Negan, who debuted in 2016 as a murderous big bad in season six's divided cliffhanger episode, "The Last Day on Earth," has spent the last few seasons of The Walking Dead on a round of redemption for his atrocities, particularly by the survivors. of Alexandria and Hilltop in their battles with the Whisperers and, in the series' climax, by battling the authoritarian nation-state of the Commonwealth. While he was able to bond with the next generation of survivors - who didn't live to see his brutal attack - like Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming), it was understandable that forgiveness eluded him when it came to Maggie and young Hershel, who eventually learned the truth about the murder. met his father.
Still, Negan may have to get over a bit of recidivism when it comes to his old ways by the time fans catch up with him in Dead City. "The group tamed him in a lot of ways, and to fit in he had to stop being who he was," Morgan recently said of Negan's condition in the spinoff. "And I think, away from this group, he's probably going to fall into old traps and old behaviors."
Either way, Dead City will have plenty of company on AMC in the The Walking Dead spinoff category, with upcoming series like The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and The Walking Dead: Rick & Michonne slated for 2023 and 2024, respectively. The franchise's first spin-off series, Fear The Walking Dead, will begin its eighth and final season on Sunday, May 14.
The Walking Dead: Dead City will premiere on AMC sometime in June.
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