Negan stares intently at Eugene before he grabs Dr. Carson and throws him face-first into the furnace, burning him alive. Negan puts his arm around Dwight, saying "Good thing we have a spare Dr. Carson." Negan pays Eugene a visit. He tells Eugene that he doesn't make his invitation lightly and explains that he doesn't need to be scared anymore. Negan asks Eugene "Who are –" but Eugene interrupts before he can finish the question. "I'm Negan," Eugene says. Kain, Erik. "Negan Isn't The Only Thing Ruining 'The Walking Dead' But He Still Needs To Go". Forbes. In the mess hall, Ezekiel and Negan approach Tyler and Ezekiel asks him for help, reminding the young man that he stood up to Pamela in the past and wants out of there as much as they do. Tyler wants to live more, but Negan calls this barely surviving rather than living. Ezekiel suggests that their people and Tyler's can take the guards together, but Tyler reveals that they've already tried that and "the same thing always happens. People who shouldn't die end up dead." They only have two choices here: survival or death. Tyler believes that if the Coalition tries this, they will all die. Ezekiel suggests that, alternatively, they can try this and they all live and they only have each other. If they lose faith in that and the idea that they can change this if they want to, they're as good as dead anyway. Roberts and Sanborn enter and drag Negan to his feet when he refuses to go with them until they tell Negan where his wife is and leave with him. Leaving himself, Tyler tells a frustrated and concerned Ezekiel that he's on his own. Ironically, the Crazed Man was even mistaken by many fans to actually be Negan during his brief appearance in " No Sanctuary". Wigler, Josh (February 23, 2020). " 'The Walking Dead': How That Surprising Sex Scene Came to Life". The Hollywood Reporter.

In the present, crouching behind a car with Maggie and Negan, Amaia bangs two sets of antlers together, trying to draw in a nearby deer. As the deer approaches, Tommaso kills it with his modified Nail Gun. Negan is one of four main characters in Season 11 who appears in all eight episodes of part three. The others three are Judith Grimes, Daryl Dixon, and Ezekiel Sutton. Negan Smith (pronounced /ni:gen/) is a former antagonist and a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's Television Universe. He is a main character in The Walking Dead and one of two protagonists in The Walking Dead: Dead City. Maggie drives to the Easy Stay Motor Inn and drinks at the bar before rejecting another round, stating that she's not in the best headspace. Maggie claims to have a cabin about an hour away and that she came home from a scavenging run to find it overrun by walkers. The bartender tells Maggie that she's in the right place as they have a guy here who clears out walkers and they can maybe loan him out. Maggie becomes interested and asks if the guy is any good and the bartender confirms that the man is the best that he's ever seen at it. Maggie asks for more information about if the man lives at the motel, but Jones at the other end of the bar interrupts the conversation to tell the bartender that their generator needs to be refilled.He was the leader of the Saviors, who used his authority and resources to subjugate other communities and gather tribute in exchange for protection against walkers. After a war against the Militia of his formerly subjugated communities, he was defeated, which ended up with Daryl Dixon taking charge of the Saviors, now willing to cooperate with the communities before its disbanding. He was taken as a prisoner to the Alexandria Safe-Zone, receiving a life sentence. Negan takes Hershel to the hidden apartment where everyone else is hiding and radios Maggie about Hershel stowing away. Despite Maggie's concern for her son, Negan promises Maggie that Hershel is safe with him and that something will have to happen to Negan before he allows Hershel to be harmed. Maggie is concerned about leaving Hershel in the hands of the man who killed his father, but Annie, aware of what Negan had done, reassures Maggie that Negan is someone who will do whatever he can to protect her son. The camp's sadistic warden (Michael Weaver) singles Negan out for his harshest abuse, determined to break him and use him to keep the other prisoners in line, but Negan remains defiant and makes an uneasy alliance with Ezekiel to plan an escape. The warden foils the escape attempt, however, and lines up Negan, Ezekiel, and Annie to be executed via firing squad. At the last moment, Negan and Ezekiel manage to convince the soldiers not to let the warden turn them into murderers, and they turn on their hated boss. Maggie, Gabriel, and Rosita then arrive to free them.

Because of the announcement of Dead City prior to the show ending, Negan was one of three characters confirmed to survive the events of The Walking Dead, the other two being Maggie Rhee and Daryl Dixon. Dwight having returned from his mission, wakes Daryl and leads him to an efficiency apartment where Negan awaits. Negan explains to Daryl how Dwight became one of his top men. Dwight, Sherry, and her sister ( Tina) used to work for points. When Tina fell behind on points, on account of her costly medication, he asked her to marry him. Dwight, Sherry, and Tina stole the medicine and ran away. In front of the windmill, Rosita passes the corpses of Sanborn and the Warden, grabbing an extra clip for her gun off of Sanborn's belt. Gabriel asks Tyler Davis if there's anything that he knows that can help them find the missing children and Tyler reveals that, when he was a soldier, kids without parents would end up at the Commonwealth Children's Home. However, Tyler doesn't know where it is, so he goes to get the location from the captured Commonwealth soldiers at Gabriel's request. Rosita impatiently calls for the Coalition soldiers and freed prisoners to board the Commonwealth's transport bus. Princess asks Magna if anyone actually knows how to drive a train, but Magna reassures her that one of the prisoners apparently used to be an engineer before they board the bus, with Kelly, Connie, Adrienne and Dianne amongst those joining them.

Negan later accompanies Carol hunting and thanks her for getting him out of Alexandria for awhile due to how tense things currently are with Maggie. Although he doesn't mind being "lay low Negan" for a bit, Negan asks if Carol can help him smooth things over with Maggie, stating that given his and Carol's recent history, Negan feels that she at least owes him that much. Carol leads Negan to Leah's Cabin where he finds his belongings inside. Carol explains that Daryl helped her to move Negan in and that the council has voted to banish him and that what Negan wants isn't going to happen and that it's not possible. Carol feels that given their less recent history, its better than Negan deserves. Although disappointed, Negan accepts this and asks if he was really banished by the council or if Carol acted on her own again. With a smile, Carol tells Negan that the rabbit they caught is for him and leaves without answering Negan's question. Later, as the Whisperers begin to get into the hospital and Gabriel organizes the evacuation, Negan approaches Lydia. Negan suggests that they both know that the situation will end badly, but Lydia insists that they don't know that. Negan feels that no matter what they do, neither he or Lydia will ever be trusted and their presence won't change anything and Lydia can easily make her escape. Lydia points out that Negan can do the same thing and he reminds Lydia that as she said, he's no hero. Lydia suggests that Negan could be if he wanted to. "Well, I guess that's what I'm doing now," says Negan, providing Lydia with Alpha's walker mask before making his way down an elevator shaft. While searching an apartment, Annie's group runs into Maggie's group, as they pull their weapons against each other, Negan appears and calms both groups down. Negan escorts the group into the hideout behind a false wall, where Gabriel and other residents are hiding. Annie proposes they split into teams and sweep each floor to rescue survivors. She leaves with Maggie, while Negan stays behind. After the horde is destroyed, Negan has a final talk with Maggie. He expresses remorse for killing Glenn and says that, after nearly losing his wife and unborn child, he finally understands what he did to her. Maggie replies that she will never forgive him, but she will try to move on past her anger for her own sake and that of her son. Negan accepts her decision, and he and Annie leave the Commonwealth together to begin a new life. Negan's change of heart and attitude was further proven during a blizzard, when Negan willingly abandoned his group of survivors and risked his own life to chase after Judith, who herself began chasing Daryl's dog after it ran off, desperately calling out to her, and used his own winter clothes to keep Judith warm. Nonetheless, Negan still retained his rather crude and straight-forward sense of humor, joking about the "love triangle" between Gabriel, Rosita and Siddiq, and poking fun at Gabriel not being the father of Rosita's child, sarcastically referring to him as " Father, not the father". Instead of rising to the bait however, the Alexandrians tell Negan they know his mannerisms all too well and as a result, no longer fall for such things from him. As a result of his crude humor however, only moments later they mistake Negan sensing a genuine danger as yet another attempt at antagonism before they realize he's not kidding for once. Regardless, Negan seems to have completely changed his ways, showing genuine concern about the well-being of The Kingdom's residents after the storm, asking Michonne about their status. Negan openly admits sympathy for their situation as well, stating that while he doesn't know the people, he knows what they're going through having lost a kingdom.