The Walking Dead season 7 will see Rick share the spotlight with Negan, says producer

The lion's share of screen time and attention on The Walking Dead has traditionally gone to Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes, but as the show enters its seventh season that is poised to change. Jeffrey Dean Morgan has been confirmed as a series regular for season 7, and his villainous Negan will be just as important and influential a character as Rick going forward:

"I mean, it’s really, Rick is now, if you really think about his journey in the comic books, he shares the spotlight with Negan in the comic book. Negan now has some ownership over what the show is about", producer Greg Nicotero told Deadline. "I think it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better for our group, and it’s pretty intense. I mean, the show, we’re sort of opening a new chapter". 

This lines up nicely with what Lincoln told us at San Diego Comic Con recently - specifically, that Negan's introduction means he "gets a bit of time off" - and that's good news for fans of the Walking Dead comic who have long waited to see Negan brought to life on screen. Here's hoping Morgan and co can meet their expectations. 

Season 7 of The Walking Dead will debut on AMC in October 2016.

Images: AMC

Amon Warmann

Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.

Latest in Action Shows
Daredevil: Born Again
Daredevil: Born Again had Disney Plus' biggest premiere of 2025, but its viewership is lower than Agatha All Along and The Acolyte
The Punisher holding two machine guns in the rain
Daredevil: Born Again - Learn the bullet-riddled comic book history of the Punisher before he officially joins the MCU
Daredevil: Born Again
Vincent D'Onofrio responds to a fan who thinks Daredevil: Born Again has "ruined" Kingpin: "Thanks for the support dumbass"
John Bernthal The Punisher
Jon Bernthal teases upcoming "dark" Punisher special: "It's the version that this character deserves"
Daredevil: Born Again
Elden Henson jokes that what happened to Foggy in Daredevil: Born Again went down because he ran over Kevin Feige's foot with his car
Daredevil recap: The Defenders
Marvel fans are discussing which of the Netflix series characters would have survived the Blip
Latest in News
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Dark Souls 2 fans remind Death Stranding 2 director Hideo Kojima that he won’t be taking the DS2 acronym that easily
Minecraft Diamond Armor
Minecraft Pocket Edition got its name because one of its devs was a big "Nintendo nerd" who wanted to pay homage to the Game Boy Pocket
Death Stranding 2
Hideo Kojima says Death Stranding's themes of connection came about because "I thought I lost everything when I became alone nine years ago"
Monster Hunter Wilds trailer screenshot showing a young woman with long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail smiling slightly, pumping her left fist in the air
Monster Hunter Wilds' infamously confusing menus spare no player, not even Gemma's voice actor herself: "This is honestly what I’m struggling with the most"
Death Stranding 2 kiss
Hideo Kojima says "it was very difficult to direct" Death Stranding 2's big kiss scene, but Norman Reedus thinks "it was niiice" locking lips with Léa Seydoux
Ms. Marvel alongside the mutants of Age of Apocalypse
30 years after the original Age of Apocalypse, Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan will travel to the alt-reality to save X-Men history