It's so great that even in Season 6, The Walking Dead still finds ways to surprise us. The big cliffhanger at the end of the season premiere wasn't a gory death or anything visual at all; it was a sound that could mark the arrival of a new threat to our survivors. Was Negan blowing the horn on The Walking Dead ? Fans of the franchise have been waiting on this character for ages and scrutinizing every casting call and episode title for clues. Has the time come at least?
This character doesn't even officially exist on the AMC series yet, but it's a solid theory. I'm not ready to subscribe to it yet, but I see where people are coming from and why they think this dramatic introduction is worthy of a character like Negan. However, I don't think whoever blew that horn is going to be able to hide for long, and that the mystery will be solved early on in the season. Plus, unless they are introducing Negan as the leader of the Wolves, shouldn't someone other than Morgan interact with the Wolves before the show moves on to bigger and badder villains? Like... we can only do so many threats at a time, gang.
I get that Negan is a big character from the Walking Dead comics, but do we actually want him to show up? Be careful what you wish you, guys and gals. Do we really, honestly, and truly want this from the bottom of our hearts? I'm not so sure that we do. He's a cruel, crass, and ruthless villain who not only named his favorite weapon "Lucille," but used it to kill Glenn at random. I, for one, am not anxious for this character to arrive on The Walking Dead at all. If Negan shows up on Sunday and starts offing all of our favorite characters, we'll be singing a different tune. Plus, I'm enjoying these period of The Walking Dead having to cope with internal struggles at Alexandria and toying with the idea that possibly Rick Grimes is more of a Big Bad than a Savior. Even if it was Negan on the horn (sorry to sound like I'm introducing my jazz combo), I'm hoping that he isn't introduced for quite some time, so that the story can rest for a bit and work these conflicts out.
That may be the case. A casting call that went out for "Orin" sparked Negan rumors but it was for the final episode of Season 6. Many casting calls go out with fake character names, and according to TVLine the TWDcall described him as an "imposing, charismatic, brutal, frightening, ferocious, and hilarious sociopath" who could return in Season 7 as a leader. Orin is also the name of the sadistic dentist in Little Shop Of Horrors, which isn't relevant except that they are both villains and now I have his song stuck in my head.
So, maybe Negan was blowing the horn. We were faked out last season, with one of the Terminus residents swinging a bat near Glenn's face in the trailer for Season 5. There was a tiny reference, in my opinion, in the Season 6 premiere as well. Heath's introduction at the Alexandria gate seemed like it could be foreshadowing a scene between Spencer Monroe and Negan in the comics. So, if we don't know who blew the horn as of Sunday's episode of The Walking Dead, I might be more willing to get on board with the Negan theory. Otherwise, I maintain that it's still (and may always be) too soon.
Images: Gene Page/AMC; Giphy
