Before The Walking Dead: Dead City united them on screen, the history between Negan and Maggie had already been cemented in the parent series — rooted in a violent loss that reshaped who they became. Their paths were never meant to run parallel, yet the collapse of the world kept pushing them into the same orbit, forcing a fragile coexistence neither one chose. Years after that first confrontation, the spinoff placed them side by side once again, in a setting where boundaries blurred and survival altered every certainty.

Within that uneasy partnership, one question endured: The closeness between Negan and Maggie, with the Neggie trend sparking extensive discussions online.

The Walking Dead: Dead City debuted in June 2023, but long before its release, admirers of its flagship series were abuzz with anticipation over whether Negan and Maggie would reunite romantically. The fascination recently peaked when AI images of the two kissing flooded X under the hashtag #Neggie, convincing many unfamiliar with the spinoff that Maggie had forgiven Negan for killing her husband in the original offering. In reality, obviously, none of it was true.

The Walking Dead: Dead City follows Maggie and Negan's journey to post-collapse Manhattan to rescue her kidnapped son, Hershel, from The Croat — a villain tied to Negan’s past. The storyline digs deeper into their complicated history, but the tone remains survival-driven, not romantic. Maggie in The Walking Dead finale made it clear that she cannot forgive Negan for her husband’s murder, which solidified that their connection, however intense, will never turn into love. The actor bringing Negan to life, meanwhile, also commented on viewers wanting his character and Maggie together in the spinoff.

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Before The Walking Dead: Dead City’s release, Jeffrey Dean Morgan spoke about how he and his co-star feel about the audience-driven narrative.

Ahead of the spinoff’s release, Jeffrey Dean Morgan told Collider that he and Maggie actress Lauren Cohan were both amused by people shipping Negan and Maggie. Morgan said he found it fascinating that viewers saw romantic potential when, from his perspective on set, there was a possibility of either character killing the other at any moment. He explained that this danger was far more compelling to play, so the watchers' insistence that the pair should be together was simply entertaining.

Ultimately, Dead City never set out to rewrite the Negan–Maggie story as romance, and the show’s creative choices have only reinforced that their bond lives in tension and nothing else. Yet fandom has always thrived on what ifs, and that curiosity is not slowing down, especially now, with viewers also questioning where Judith stands in the larger universe post-spinoff. If anything, the buzz proves that The Walking Dead still knows how to keep its world alive long after the credits roll.

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What do you think of Negan and Maggie’s dynamic in The Walking Dead: Dead City? Let us know in the comments.