When The Walking Dead returned on Sunday night, an awkward reunion between Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) was shared. Maggie then went on to have a heart-to-heart with Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) about the man who murdered her husband.
Having been gone for so long, Maggie only remembers the Negan that was held prisoner by Alexandria and hasn’t seen him change over time as the other members of the community have. However, if Daryl had to choose between Maggie and Negan now, who would he pick?
Norman Reedus recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly about this topic.
Daryl and Negan have a complicated relationship
When Negan rolled into town and finally gathered up Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) group, he made it very clear that one of them was going to die in order to set an example of how he rules. Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) was the unfortunate one.
However, Daryl couldn’t keep his mouth shut so Negan decided to kill another person in order to truly drive his point home. This time, Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) died.
Ever since, Daryl has struggled with this and has always blamed himself for Glenn’s death. Over time, he and Maggie have spoken and she revealed that she certainly didn’t blame him.
Daryl has always held onto his grudge against Negan after that — and rightly so. Glenn and Daryl had been close prior to then.
Circumstance has since given occasions, though, where Negan has proved his worth within the community. Daryl also has saved Negan twice in regard to the recent Whisperer Wars, so it seems like things may have mellowed between them.
Daryl doesn’t have a friendship bracelet for Negan just yet
Reedus confirmed that while Daryl and Negan are on friendlier terms as of late, it certainly doesn’t make them friends. In addition, if it ever came down to it, Daryl would always pick Maggie over Negan.
“Maggie and Daryl definitely share something, and that was Glenn,” Reedus explained to Entertainment Weekly. “If there’s a moment where they have to decide whether it’s Negan or Maggie, it’s Maggie, for sure.”
He also expanded on this by suggesting that Daryl may also still not fully trust Negan. While he may have done things to help the communities — even getting in tight with the Whisperers in order to help the others out — it doesn’t mean that he is fully good.
“We saw him do some friendly things, but is he faking? Is he trying to win us over? So, because he wants to survive … I don’t think there’s a moment where we fully believe him one way or the other. We saw Negan save Daryl and not shoot him with a shotgun. And then we saw Daryl save Negan by killing Beta for him. We saw these things happen, but we don’t have a friendship bracelet with Negan right now.”
The relationship dynamics between this trio will be explored further in Season 10C of The Walking Dead. So, fans will just have to tune in if they want to see if Negan can be fully trusted.
Episode 18 of The Walking Dead Season 10C will air at 9/8c on Sunday March 7.