Walking Dead: Hershel vs Negan Is An Isle Of The Dead Spinoff Hint
Negan and Hershel's deadly pact could be building toward The Walking Dead's latest confirmed spinoff. When The Walking Dead season 11 brings AMC's long-running zombie TV series to a close, there'll be no shortage of content to keep fans busy. Among the various projects currently in development is Isle of the Dead - a spinoff starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan and Lauren Cohan's Maggie on a trek to Manhattan, New York for reasons as-yet-unknown. Whatever prompts their journey, it'll need to be convincing - Maggie's burning hatred for Negan has lost none of its intensity since the death of Glenn in The Walking Dead season 6's finale.
Maggie has endured something of an emotional roller coaster since returning to Alexandria in The Walking Dead season 10 and immediately spotting Negan wandering around without a care. She plotted to kill him. Negan tried killing her instead. A fight against Pope's Reapers then forced them to cooperate, and upon reuniting at Riverbend apartment complex, glimmers of mutual respect began shining through - even if Maggie probably wouldn't admit it. Meanwhile, Maggie's young son, Hershel, knows a "bad man" killed his father, and remembers his mother's a strict instruction to steer clear of Negan...
Hershel is a smart kid, so doesn't take long to figure out Negan is his dad's murderer in The Walking Dead season 11's "The Rotten Core." Seeking vengeance for his fallen parent, Hershel pulls a gun. Although Negan eventually talks Hershel down, he does so with a caveat - "In a few years when you've grown up a bit, come find me. I promise you, we will settle it." Given that Isle of the Dead could feasibly be set "a few years" after The Walking Dead season 11, will the spinoff see a teenage Hershel visit Negan once again, demanding Glenn's debt be settled?
By revealing Annie (Medina Senghore) as Negan's pregnant wife, The Walking Dead season 11 sets up Negan's future in a way most viewers didn't expect. For the next few in-universe years, Jeffrey Dean Morgan's character will reap the enjoyment of being a family man alongside his new wife and their child - a perfect mirror of what Glenn, Maggie and Hershel would've been, had Negan's baseball bat not intervened. That comparison will not be lost upon Negan himself, who visibly regrets his past acts of violence. The warm embrace of family life will always come tinged with guilt.
It'll also come tinged with the knowledge that an angry, cap-wearing teenager will one day turn up on Negan's doorstep and bring his bliss to an abrupt end. Isle of the Dead's announcement confirms Hershel at least holds off until his mother and Negan's trip to New York is over... but what after that? Does Negan embark on their journey knowing a gun-toting Hershel will be waiting when they return? Will that specter of death hang over the entire spinoff? Might Hershel accompany the pair to Manhattan, forcing Negan to keep one eye open at all times? The pact made in The Walking Dead's "The Rotten Core" adds an intriguing, ticking time-bomb twist to Isle of the Dead's premise - as well as a potential way to end Negan's story when the spinoff ends.
Negan's promise to Hershel also paves the way for true redemption. By leaving Maggie for dead earlier in The Walking Dead season 11, some felt Negan regressed as a character, reverting to the "Savior" Negan of old. The Hershel pact is exactly what Negan always should've done - acknowledge his crimes, accept karma will likely catch up, then willingly put his punishment in the hands of someone he wronged. By allowing Hershel to "settle" their business at a later date, Negan can be truly redeemed. If he's in a good mood, Hershel might even decide vengeance wasn't in his father's nature, and that taking the moral high ground would better honor Glenn's memory.
The Walking Dead continues Sundays on AMC.