The Walking Dead returned to screens in North America last night (February 23) as its tenth season resumed — and the show managed to reach a whole new level of disturbing with a sex scene involving two major characters.
During last night’s mid-season premiere, Negan was propositioned by Whisperers leader Alpha in a tense scene which followed the former informing Alpha about a potential spy inside the Whisperers’ camp.
After being led to a remote part of the forest, Negan was instructed to remove his clothes by Alpha — with the former Saviors leader clearly expecting that he was about to meet his end.
When Negan was told to turn around, however, he was confronted by a naked Alpha offering sex in “reward” for telling her about the spy. The scene closes with the two embracing, with Alpha still wearing her Whisperers face mask.
Fans of The Walking Dead registered their shock and horror at this intimate moment on social media.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang explained why the show needed to depict this disturbing storyline, which dates back to the original Walking Dead comics.
“We always felt like we needed some of the story of Alpha, Negan and their strange relationship,” Kang said, before then adding that episode writer David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick was asked to find a way of putting Negan and Alpha in a position to have sex.
“And he was like, ‘Okay! Not quite sure how to get there! Let me work on it!’ He came back with this whole storyline where Negan thinks he’s about to be killed, but it turns out to be this other thing that sits within Alpha’s animalistic philosophy.
“It’s the way [Alpha] sees exactly who Negan is,” Kang continued. “She’s not wrong about him being a crass man. Negan being Negan thinks, ‘Well, it’s an opportunity for me!’
“It came together in this organic and fun way where the writer had a great take on the relationship from the comic book. We had a fun time coming up with a way to show this to our audience in a way that’s safe for basic cable but also still surprising.”
