The Walking Dead: Best Negan Episodes, Ranked

With so many seasons and episodes, The Walking Dead is brimming with characters, both good and bad. Every season showed at least one new villain, aside from the walkers, for the survivors to contend with. Villains such as the Governor and Commonwealth will always be popular, but there is one villain who stood out among the rest, and that is Negan.

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As such a loved character, he was even given a redemption arc and brought back for the Dead City spin-off. These TWD episodes are the ones that showcased just what an excellent and well-rounded character he is, even at his worst and most brutal moments with Lucille.

Spoiler Warning: Due to the nature of exploring Negan’s best episodes, each entry will delve into story spoilers around this infamous character and his impact on the show.

8

Who Are You Now (Season 9, Episode 6)

Revealed the Budding Friendship Between Negan & Judith

They finally did it — they won the war against the Saviors and toppled their King, Negan. But, they don’t cinch their victory by killing him and ridding their territory of him for good. Instead, they lock him up in prison, leaving him to rot in the cell, which might be a fate worse than death.

Or that would be the case if it wasn’t for Rick’s daughter Judith. As it turns out, she regularly visits Negan’s cell, speaking to him through the bars. The two have built a friendly rapport, with Negan even offering Judith guidance, taking on a sort of mentor role. Considering Negan’s past, this is a dramatic tonal shift for his character, but it might just be the one needed to redeem his character. Maybe his past actions can’t be forgotten, but in time, forgiven.

7

Hearts Still Beating (Season 7, Episode 8)

Negan’s Stay In Alexandria Is Anything but Peaceful

What would life look like under the strict regime of the Saviors? Well, this is the answer the survivors dread — and what they get a first glimpse of in episode 8 of season 7, Hearts Still Beating. Negan himself pays a personal visit to Alexandria to check out how his latest workers are doing and the settlement they call home, which earns the Negan seal of approval.

Here, the audience sees a more muted Negan, at least for a short while, as he makes full use of Alexandria’s supplies and facilities to shave. He even makes a spaghetti dinner for Rick’s family, using it as a moment to try and bond with Carl and Judith. Of course, the quiet moments don’t last long, and Negan’s villainy comes back to the forefront of his character. Nevertheless, this excellent episode truly shows how multi-faceted Negan is, and even in the enemy’s territory, he is still running the show.

6

What Comes After (Season 9, Episode 5)

Negan Displays A More Vulnerable Side To His Character

When Negan first appeared on the show, he was braggadocious, all too happy to rub his victory in the survivors’ faces and show them just how much he had cowed their own leader. So, it is no surprise being defeated and imprisoned humbles him a bit.

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This shift in his character is shown to a severe degree in the 5th episode of season 9, in which Maggie pays his cell a visit armed and ready to exact some revenge. Negan has the gall to goad her about Glenn’s death, but the truth is quickly revealed with a flood of tears and an unexpected plea, as Negan begs for death to reunite with his wife. This genuine display of heartfelt emotion is very different from the Negan fans knew, and it was the beginning of a brand new Negan.

5

The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life (Season 7, Episode 16)

Negan Proves He Always Has The Upper Hand

Tensions between the survivors and the Saviors reached a boiling point. Rick, and all of his people, were tired of living under their harsh regime, saying how it wasn’t really living, just surviving. They formulated a plan and gained the allies and weapons needed to make a stand. It should have gone off without a hitch, but in typical The Walking Dead fashion, it didn’t.

Negan is here to stay, as ultimately, the Scavengers betrayed Rick, switching to the side of the Saviors and completely undoing all the work that went into planning his downfall. This shows how Negan is always one step ahead, even after the survivors did everything to make sure their plan was airtight. This easily could have been the end of Negan, but keeping him around as the main villain for a while longer was truly the best decision the showrunners made.

4

Walk With Us (Season 10, Episode 12)

Negan Is The One Who Finally Stops Alpha

Introduced in season 9, episode 6, the Whisperers were the new feared group of villains, spearheaded by the soft-spoken Alpha. They wear masks made of walker skins in order to not only pass through hordes unnoticed, but also manipulate them, giving them basically an army of undead at their disposal. Negan joins them after he is freed from prison and even becomes a little closer to their leader than most of her other followers.

Alpha was one of the more feared villains, and many thought the survivors might be the ones to get the killing blow. But, in a shocking twist, Negan betrays her. He takes her to a decoy cabin and slits her throat in order to put a stop to her and save Lydia’s life, truly demonstrating that Negan was well on the way on his path to redemption.

3

The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be (Season 7, Episode 1)

The Long Awaited Season 7 Premiere Finally Revealed Which Characters Would Die

When discussing the best episodes featuring Negan, this one absolutely cannot be left out. After the nail-biting season 6 finale, fans were left reeling as to who could be dead. Comic fans were assured it was exactly who it was in the comics, but showrunners pulled a fast one by having him first cave in Abraham’s skull, who died in an utterly different fashion than the comics and delivered a shocking death to all fans. It’s only after that brutal kill that he then goes on to kill Glenn, who was a favorite among many fans.

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Their deaths were brutal, and Negan’s antics for the rest of the episode involved nearly killing Rick by ordering him to collect an axe after throwing it into a horde of walkers. He wanted to show the characters (and the audience) just who was in charge here, and he succeeded in spectacular and shocking fashion. Negan cemented himself as the most fearsome and tyrannical villain of all.

2

Last Day On Earth (Season 6, Episode 16)

When Negan First Swaggered Onto The Scene

Those who had read the comics either dreaded or anticipated this scene with the same glee as the smug Game of Thrones readers in time for the Red Wedding episode. This episode might just be as infamous, introducing the feared leader of the Saviors, simply called Negan. Stepping out in front of the survivors, wielding a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire and one hell of a self-righteous attitude, a lot of fans immediately clicked with Negan, realizing this was the scary villain the show needed.

Death is always a possibility for the fearless survivors, but Negan truly amps up with this fear as he makes a game out of deciding who would be his first victim as penance for Rick killing some of his men. What makes this episode even more brilliant is the fact that it is the season finale, so viewers watching this as it aired needed to wait until the next season to see who he killed, as it cuts in time for the first drop of Lucille. Take note, showrunners — this is how a cliffhanger ending should be.

1

Here’s Negan (Season 10, Episode 22)

Explores Negan’s Backstory, Offering Crucial Insight Into His Character

It is all too easy to paint villains like Negan as monsters because they do bad things. He torments people, kills them in brutal fashion, and acts as a cruel tyrant, levying the upperhand he holds over Rick and his people. But, like every other character in The Walking Dead, Negan is far from one-dimensional, and no episode displays that better than Here’s Negan, the flashback episode in season 10.

This episode truly humanizes him, as it shows his life before the apocalypse. He was once a normal man who hit a rut in life after losing his job, falling further away from the image of an ideal husband. But then his wife, Lucille, takes ill, and he immediately turns things around to be her carer, displaying compassion — a trait many thought him incapable of. It’s no wonder he named the bat after his wife, who was the one who had gifted it to him — and no wonder why he is so protective of it. While nothing in this episode can excuse his actions, it is a key episode to understanding Negan a little better, and one that will definitely tug on the heartstrings of even the most stoic viewers.

The Walking Dead

Release Date

2010 – 2022

Network

AMC

Showrunner

Frank Darabont, Angela Kang, Scott M. Gimple, Glen Mazzara

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