An Unexpected 'Walking Dead' Scene Haunts Negan Actor the Most

The milestone 100th episode awaits in Season 8 of The Walking Dead, which premieres October 22 on AMC. The series is gearing up for war between Alexandra leader Rick Grimes and the sinister leader of the Saviors, Negan, who arms himself with a barbed-wire baseball bat as his signature weapon. But evil as Negan may be, he admits to one major scene from Season 7 that still haunts him today.

On the Saturday night of New York Comic Con inside Madison Square Garden, the cast and crew of AMC’s hit series gathered for a press conference. The panel included stars like Norman Reedus (Daryl), Melissa McBride (Carol), executive producer Gale Ann Hurd, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who stars as Negan on The Walking Dead. When the actors were asked if the characters regretted anything in their history, Morgan said Negan has no regrets, but he was a little messed up shooting the scene where Negan forces Rick to cut off his son Carl’s arm. When the actors were asked if the characters regretted anything in their history, Morgan said Negan has no regrets, but he was a little messed up shooting the scene where Negan forces Rick to cut off his son Carl’s arm.

“That was a rough scene,” Morgan said. “As a dad too, you can’t help but think about that stuff every now and again. As much fun as I had that whole episode, that was a rough way to go. Even worse than the killing of Glenn and Abraham.”

The moment Morgan described is one of the harshest of the series, which happened right in the first episode of the show’s divisive seventh season in which Morgan’s Negan took center stage as the show’s primary antagonist.

Morgan then added: “That being said, I don’t think I’d take it back. It was important for character development.”

“I think you’ll find and more and more about Negan than who he is,” he continued. “I still get the finger flipped to me from time to time, the occasional ‘we hate you but we love to hate you.’”

The Walking Dead Season 8 premieres on October 22 on AMC.