In just 24 hours, Jeffrey Dean Morgan will fulfill the dreams of "The Walking Dead" fans world over by finally making his on-screen debut as iconic villain Negan - the Final Boss, if you will, of "The Walking Dead" comic book - on this Sunday's "hardcore" season six finale.
Fans universally praised Dean's casting and the veteran actor is excited to make his debut, but he's still aware that his nefarious character will generate a lot of negativity right away. In preparation for his introduction, Dean has steeled himself for the oncoming hate mail that he is sure to receive.
"I am excited and I am ready," Dean said in a recent interview. "I really can't wait to kind of step into those shoes, and hold that bat, and do my thing. I am looking forward to it. I am fully prepared for hate mail and everything else. So bring it."
We can't help but love Dean's attitude; the man is actually excited to step into the shoes of a fictional psychopath. Clearly, he's well suited for the role of Negan.
But he's right to point out the hate mail he's likely to see in the aftermath of this Sunday's finale. As comic book readers know (Major Spoiler Alert), Negan officially announces his presence by brutally murdering a fan favorite character with his barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat (which he creepily nicknamed "Lucille"). That same storyline will play out on tomorrow night's episode, however the poor soul on the receiving end of Negan's wrath has yet to be 100 percent confirmed.
Since it has become practically common knowledge which character gets sent to that great Safe-Zone in the sky in the comics, showrunner Scott M. Gimple (along with the actor in question) has discussed the possibility of tweaking the source material to keep fans guessing. While we'd love to get the inside track on who the poor sap will be, AMC is making it increasingly difficult to track down key spoilers lately (we do, however, have unconfirmed spoilers for other aspects of the season finale)
For now, we'll just have to wait and see who becomes batting practice for Negan and who walks away (pun intended).
"The Walking Dead" will air its season six finale Sunday on AMC at 9 p.m. ET.
Follow Brandon Katz at @Great_Katzby
