Jeffrey Dean Morgan recently discussed what it was like returning to the role of Negan in The Walking Dead: Dead City. The series is the first sequel to AMC’s The Walking Dead television series.

Speaking with Collider, Morgan talked about the upcoming second season of Dead City and fans’ excitement to see Negan reunited with Lucille — the wooden baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire that Negan uses to kill his enemies. “Well, I freaked out. I didn’t realize how much I missed her, not only as Negan, but as myself,” Morgan said. “Just getting to hold that damn bat again adds something to that character and the swagger and the confidence and the humor that Negan has. It’s been sorely missed.”

Morgan went on to talk about how being reunited with his weapon changed his character during The Walking Dead: Dead City‘s second season: “The second that she’s back in Negan’s hands, he is empowered in some way that he hasn’t been in the last few years. It was a cool thing, having her back.”

The sense of empowerment was one that Morgan himself felt while filming his scenes for the show, and he enjoyed being reunited with the baseball bat so much that he felt protective over the prop. “Most people hand their props back to the prop guys in between shots, and I would never let anybody touch her,” he said. “She’d go to my trailer with me. She’d go to the bathroom with me. She’d get coffee. They named her after my wife, played by my wife, so it was always good.”

Dead City Focuses on The Walking Dead’s Fan-Favorite Characters

The Walking Dead: Dead City premiered on AMC back in 2023, and the first season of the series contained six episodes. The show follows fan-favorite The Walking Dead characters Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Morgan) as they travel through a post-apocalyptic Manhattan in search of Maggie’s kidnapped son. In the dilapidated city, the two find themselves face-to-face with the terrifying zombie forces they’ve become acquainted with over the years. The second season of the show is expected to have eight episodes and is planned for a 2025 release.

The Walking Dead has been a wildly successful franchise for AMC, and Dead City is the first sequel to the main television show and fifth series in the franchise overall. Other spin-offs include Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, and Tales of the Walking Dead. In 2023, a Daryl-focused spin-off, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, premiered and has already been renewed for a second season. Earlier this year, a six-episode series featuring Rick and Michonne premiered titled The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.

The first season of The Walking Dead: Dead City is now available on AMC+.