Honestly, the first time most of us saw Negan, we wanted him dead. Dead and buried. Probably in a very painful way involving that barbed-wire bat he loved so much. Then something weird happened. Over a decade of television, he turned from the most hated villain in cable history into the guy everyone was rooting for in Dead City.
It’s a bizarre journey.
If you’re looking for The Walking Dead: Best of Negan content, you’re usually looking for one of two things. Maybe you want the "Best of Negan" special collection AMC put together to highlight his evolution. Or maybe you just want to relive the specific episodes where Jeffrey Dean Morgan absolutely stole the screen. Either way, Negan isn't just a character; he's the emotional anchor that kept the show alive after Rick Grimes flew off in a helicopter.
The Official "Best of Negan" Collection: What’s Actually In It?
AMC actually released a curated series of episodes under the title The Walking Dead: Best of Negan. It’s basically a highlight reel for fans who don’t want to sit through the slower seasons but want the "greatest hits" of his redemption arc.
The collection usually includes:
- "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be" (Season 7, Episode 1): The brutal introduction. The lineup. The loss of Glenn and Abraham. It’s hard to watch, but you can’t talk about his best moments without starting here.
- "The Storm" (Season 9, Episode 16): This is where the ice starts to melt. Negan saves Judith Grimes in a literal blizzard. It’s the first time we see he might actually have a soul left.
- "Walk With Us" (Season 10, Episode 12): The Alpha kill. It was the "holy crap" moment fans waited years for. Negan infiltrating the Whisperers and delivering Alpha’s head to Carol is peak television.
- "Here’s Negan" (Season 10, Episode 22): This is widely considered the best episode of the entire series by many fans. We see his backstory with his wife, Lucille. It explains everything without excusing anything.
- "The Rotten Core" (Season 11, Episode 14): Negan has to face Hershel—Glenn’s son. It’s tense, uncomfortable, and shows how far he’s come from the man who swung the bat.
Why "Here’s Negan" Changed Everything
Before this episode, Negan was a caricature. He was a guy who leaned back too far while talking and made crude jokes while killing people. We knew he was "bad," but we didn't know why.
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Then we met the real Lucille.
The episode shows Negan as a failing gym teacher who cheated on his wife but then spent the early days of the apocalypse desperately trying to keep her alive during her cancer treatments. It’s a bottle episode. It’s quiet. It’s heartbreaking. Seeing him lose her—and then burn down the house where she turned—gives us the origin of the leather jacket and the bat. It turns a villain into a human.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s real-life wife, Hilarie Burton, played Lucille. That’s why the chemistry feels so raw. You can’t fake that kind of connection.
The Uncensored Negan: Blu-ray vs. TV
If you’ve only watched the show on AMC or Netflix, you haven’t seen the full Negan. In the comics, the guy has a "colorful" vocabulary. Every other word is an F-bomb.
When the Season 6 finale and Season 7 premiere aired, they had to tone it down for broadcast. However, the Blu-ray and some digital "Best of Negan" versions include the uncensored takes. If you haven't seen the "F-take" of his introduction, you’re missing out on the pure, unfiltered Savior-era Negan. It’s much more aggressive. It’s scarier.
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It changes the vibe of the scene from a theatrical performance to a terrifying threat.
From Savior to Anti-Hero: The Redemption Arc
Redemption is a tricky word. Can you ever really "redeem" a guy who beat a fan-favorite character to death while mocking his pregnant wife? Probably not. But The Walking Dead did a pretty good job of making us care anyway.
The turn started in a jail cell.
Negan spent years rotting in Alexandria’s basement. He talked to Judith through a window. He became a mentor to the girl whose father he tried to destroy. This wasn't a quick fix; it was a slow burn. By the time he was out and fighting the Whisperers, he wasn't trying to lead anymore. He was trying to survive and, in his own warped way, help.
The Maggie Factor
The core of The Walking Dead: Best of Negan content is his relationship with Maggie. This carries over into the spinoff, Dead City.
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In the final season of the main show, Negan finally says the words: "I'm sorry." He admits that he knows what he took from her. He doesn't ask for forgiveness—he knows he won't get it—but he acknowledges the debt. This tension is what makes the character work today. He’s a guy who knows he’s a monster and is trying to live with it.
Actionable Insights for Fans
If you want the absolute best experience with Negan’s story, don't just watch the clips.
- Watch "Here’s Negan" first. Even if you’ve seen it, watch it again before starting Dead City. It re-contextualizes his current behavior.
- Hunt down the Blu-ray versions. The "Best of Negan" curated episodes are great, but the uncensored dialogue in the earlier seasons is the definitive version of the character.
- Check out the "Negan Lives" comic one-shot. It’s a standalone story by Robert Kirkman that takes place after Negan is exiled in the comics. It’s a great companion piece to the show’s ending.
- Pay attention to the kids. Negan’s interactions with Carl, Judith, and later Ginny in Dead City are the "tell." He’s a man who failed his own family and spent the rest of his life trying to protect other people's children as penance.
Negan didn't just survive the apocalypse; he survived the fans' hatred. That’s the real miracle of the character. He’s the most complex figure in the franchise, and whether you love him or hate him, you can't look away when he's on screen.
To dive deeper into his current story, you should jump straight into The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1, which picks up years after the main show finale and puts Negan back in the spotlight in a decaying New York City.