The Walking Dead, Find Out Which star INSISTED on being killed by Negan?, What Is Next For Morgan, Did He Already Meet The Whispers? Who Is Katy, And A Preview of The Next Episode

THE WALKING DEAD fans were left in shock when two of their favourite characters were brutally bludgeoned to death in the season seven opener.

But, which star wanted to be beaten by the masochistic Negan’s barbed wire baseball bat Lucille?

While viewers of the show were sad to see Glenn Rhee murdered in one of the most violent ways possible, Steven Yeun is said to have insisted on being killed off.

Speaking at The Walking Dead Euro Tour, Ross Marquand, who stars as Aaron, said that despite the criticism that the premiere was “too graphic” they wanted to stay as true to the comics as possible.

He told press including Express.co.uk: “This is based on source material and to be honest, I would say that we made it a little bit more PG 13 than it was in the comics.

“It was much more graphic in the graphic novel. So, it’s a thing that you want to stay close to the source material but you also want to make sure that you are doing right by the show and the characters.”

He went on to explain that Steven felt very strongly that his character’s life ended in the same way as it does in the comics.

“He even said, ‘That’s my death. I want that to be my death.'” Ross said. “It was extremely emotional for everybody but that was something he was very committed to doing the way it was done in the comics.

“He was a big fan of that sequence and he wanted it to be done in that way.”

It comes after Greg Nicotero dropped a major hint about Negan’s demise as he teased that the Alexandrians would take their lives back at “any cost”.

“The first half of the season, we watched all of our characters ground into the dirt and the effect that, Glenn and Abraham, and then of course, Spencer and Olivia, their deaths had on everybody,” he commented.

“The first half of the season is hard to swallow and it’s difficult to watch your hero under the heel of somebody so despicable as Negan.

“But, that was a necessary evil to watch where we’re going, which is to see these people with a clear purpose, Rosita’s purpose, Daryl’s purpose, which is to take their lives back at any cost.”

Tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead was quite the stinger, as The Kingdom lost two of its best men. 

Ben was taken out by the Saviors, a consequence of Richard’s decision to start a fight. Then, under Richard’s instruction, Morgan strangled the guy right in front of everyone. The move was made to ensure they had the Saviors’ trust.

Through all the madness, Richard’s story was a bit of a sad one. In a couple of scenes, fans got to see his utter brokenness pour out. This happened during his bedside chat with Morgan, and in the scene where he dug an empty grave. 

When Richard set up the distraction – that would make them late for the meeting with the Saviors – he dug an empty grave. This was the place he intended to be buried. While doing that, he was seen holding a small backpack, with the name Katy written on it. Morgan found it later when he was at the site.

Katy was the daughter of Richard. In his talk with Morgan, he explained that his whole family was together at one of the communities he was previously a part of. After the group fell, his wife was killed, and Richard was forced to care for his daughter on his own. 

He didn’t do much to be proactive in helping his daughter survive, he just tried to play defense and protect her. This resulted in her death as well.

This is the main cause for Richard’s actions with the Saviors. He learned that sitting back, and doing nothing, was a good way to get yourself killed. By starting a war with the Saviors, he felt like they had a much better chance of surviving.

He kept the backpack by his fresh grave, to remind himself why he was doing this. He also wanted it to be a reminder of what it was he had lost, so that he wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice his own life when the time came.

‘Bury Me Here’ – was one of the most shocking of the season. Each minute was packed with surprise, and the landscape of the entire series has completely shifted.

One of the biggest changes tonight? Morgan has given up his vow of peace, and he announced that fact in the most shocking of ways. In an instant, Morgan took his ally Richard’s life.

Why would he do that?

Well, there’s a couple of reasons here. When you break it down, it actually makes much more sense than you’d think.

First of all, Morgan still hasn’t recovered from the loss of Duane. He thought his time with Eastman helped him gain closure, but that wound is still fresh in Morgan’s heart. He took Ben under his wing, and the young man became the son he was still missing. 

When Ben was killed, Morgan knew it was Richard’s fault. At this point, in his mind, Morgan has lost two sons. It’s impossible to remain peaceful after that. The thing is though, Morgan didn’t kill Richard out of rage.

This leads to the second big reason behind Morgan’s decision. Richard basically told the guy to do it.

See, Richard has been saying that it’s going to take a death in order to get Ezekiel to change his mind about the war. He was ready to be the sacrifice, and that’s why he set up the cantaloupe incident with the Saviors. He intended for them to kill him.

Instead the Saviors killed Ben. When Richard and Morgan talked about this, he still insisted that someone else would have to die. Richard told Morgan that he’d have to kill in order to get Ezekiel to fight, insinuating that he’d still be the sacrifice.

Richard told Morgan to kill him, and earn the Saviors trust. That way they could really begin the war, and avenge Ben’s death.

Morgan Jones appeared to have reverted to his terrifying and insane Season 3 self who likes to yell, “Clear!” and kill any threats in surrounding areas in Sunday night’s Bury Me Here episode of The Walking Dead.

In the aftermath of Benjamin’s death, Morgan saw flashes of the horrific moments which lead him to these ones. The loss of Duane, meeting King Ezekiel, Richard staging the betrayal of the Kingdom against the Saviors… It all exploded during some Morgan’s most intense and heartbreaking moments.

Having broken his creed in killing Richard, telling Carol the truth about Glenn and Abraham, and heading off on his own, it is difficult to predict what comes next for Morgan Jones (especially considering his fate in Robert Kirkman’s comics).

Speaking to Lennie James in an exclusive interview, ComicBook.com has gained the actor’s perspective on what is next for Morgan.

“On one level, all the people that have kind of been arguing for Morgan to get back on the killing train, as I’ve said to those people that I’ve met and had those conversations with in person, be careful what you wish for. On the other side of it, Morgan has always been conflicted and he’s never been at a point where he’s kind of said out right, ‘I won’t kill anybody.’ He’s just saying that I don’t want that to be my first action, I don’t want to be my first impotence. If there’s an alternative, let’s find the alternative, let’s not just go for killing each other straight away because there’s not that many of us left. So, I think his state of mind, as you see, kind of in the last shot of the episode, he’s kind of still checking behind himself, he’s still trying to see how far away the beat, the old Morgan… How far behind that person still is.”

“He’s still trying to keep ahead of it, he’s still trying to hold onto some resemblance of the humanity that he’s been fighting for,” James said, but admits Morgan is on a dangerous path towards the character we saw in Season 3. “So, is he as cray, cray as he was in the past? Absolutely not. Is he as stable as her first was when he arrived at the Kingdom, probably not either. He’s kind of somewhere in the middle, and we’ll have to wait and see which way that goes.”

As for Morgan heading to Carol’s house and unveiling the true fates of Glenn and Abraham to the woman who was contently living in isolation, James says this was Morgan “saying goodbye.”

“I don’t think it’s anymore complicated than that,” James said. “When she asks him where you’re going, he says, ‘I’m going to go out there, I’m going to kill them one by one.’ I think he’s about to start walking forward and that path is not necessarily the path of the peaceful warrior anymore. He’s come to say goodbye to Carol and that’s why he asks her. Is he going to say goodbye by telling her the truth or is he going to say goodbye by just saying goodbye?”

“On one level, his intention of going there and offering her the option. He’s literally saying, either you can find out from me or you’ll find our a different way but I’m prepared to tell you. All bets are off, I’m on my way.”

One villain seems to never be enough for fans of The Walking Dead.

After itching and scratching for Negan’s debut throughout Season 6 after meeting the character in issue #100 of The Walking Dead comics, many viewers of the AMC series are already eager to meet Alpha and the Whisperers (who didn’t come along until issue #130).

The Whisperers are a group which wears the skin of the dead and walks among them, keeping their voices to a minimum volume in an effort to blend in. They have no rules among their own but are firm in marking their territory, serving as one of The Walking Dead comics’ deadliest enemies to Rick Grimes.

Several teases of the group have been dropped by the AMC series, playing with expectations from fans despite not actually introducing the group, but none has ever been more evident than Season 3’s Morgan-centric Clear episode. In the episode which saw Morgan all but completely outside of his own mind, the Atlanta survivor tells Rick he saw “people wearing dead people’s faces.”

Speaking to Lennie James in an exclusive interview, ComicBook.com asked the Morgan Jones actor if the line was in reference to the popular group from Robert Kirkman‘s comics. As it turns out, he genuinely does not know.

“In all honesty, I cannot tell you,” Jones said. “That’s not to say that it’s a no, but it could be one of those where it happened, it’s just that Scott [Gimple] hasn’t told me yet. So, in all honesty I can’t answer that question because I don’t have that knowledge.”

Showrunner Scott Gimple, who happened to write the Clear episode, has also opened up on the subject with ComicBook.com, pointing out that the Season 3 episode aired ahead of the Whisperers’ introduction in the comics.

“That definitely predated my knowledge of the Whisperers, because they were not at all in the book yet,” Gimple said. “Maybe that could wind up being a reference.”

“It was at least a year away,” Gimple points out. Still, the showrunner teases there might be a tie. “But you never know. Even though it predated my own knowledge of the Whisperers, maybe I was tuned into idea space…”

“Who knows,” Gimple said. “Maybe that could wind up being a reference.”

Morgan and Carol have had their lives intertwined over the last two seasons of The Walking Dead, and it’s provided an interesting dynamic. They each have a very different outlook on life, and it’s caused the characters to clash on multiple occasions.

Now, in the back-half of season seven, the pair have learned to trust each other. They’ve even developed sort of a friendship, which could be crucial in the episodes to come.

With their interaction over the past couple of years, some may be surprised to learn that the characters never actually interacted in the comics. They came into the story at different times, and neither one had the chance to meet the other.

That fact isn’t the only major departure from their comic stories, as both characters have gone through some drastic changes.

Take a look at what happened to both Morgan, and Carol, in The Walking Dead comics. You may be surprised at what you find.

he version of Carol seen in the comics couldn’t have been more different from the iteration Melissa McBride plays on the show.

Both began the same way – with a young daughter and an abusive husband. However, the Carol in the comics was depicted as being much younger.

Sophia never died in the comics, but Ed did. When the group made it to the prison, Carol struggled with the need to be wanted. Her husband was terrible, but he showed her attention. The woman started to lose it, and came on to random characters here and there.

Eventually, Carol tried to make a three-way marriage work with Rick and Lori, and they obviously shut her down. This led Carol to kill herself, but embracing a walker out in the courtyard.

Sophia went on to become the adopted daughter of Glenn and Maggie.

Morgan – like Carol – had the same beginning in the comics as he did on the show. Morgan helped Rick navigate the struggles of the apocalypse, before leaving to take care of his son Duane.

However, this version of Morgan didn’t have the fortified breakdown that Lennie James’ take on the character did.

When Rick and Abraham went back to Kentucky to scavenge Rick’s hometown – before heading to DC – the pair discovered Morgan. He was broken about the loss of Duane, and went with his old friend.

Morgan struggled with the goings-on of everyday life in Alexandria, and never quite found a way to fit in. He enjoyed a brief relationship with Michonne, but his death ended that quickly.

When the herd took over Alexandria, Morgan didn’t make it out alive.

 

The show will try and add to the drama next week, as AMC has released a new preview for ‘The Other Side’.

The new episode will focus on Rosita and Sasha, as they try and look past their differences. The women have never exactly seen eye-to-eye, but they need to become allies in order to take on Negan.

Rosita found a new rifle for Sasha, and she proposed that they try and infiltrate the Sanctuary on their own. Between the info they’ve taken from Jesus and Carl, they feel like they have enough info to make something happen.

Can the two women succeed? 

Their mission comes on the tail of one of the show’s deadliest episodes yet. ‘Bury Me Here’ saw Richard and Ben both die, and Morgan undergo another transformation. He’s a killer again, and it’s going to take a lot to reign in Morgan’s power.

Carol has changed, too. She’s back to her old ways, and she’s looking for war. Now that she knows the truth about Negan’s attack, she’s ready for war. She and Ezekiel must now work together to discover the best way to begin the war.

express.co.uk