If you’re looking for a specific calendar date where Negan Smith suddenly decided to stop being a sociopath, you won't find one. It’s not like he woke up one Tuesday in Alexandria and thought, "You know, the whole bashing-skulls-with-a-baseball-bat thing is getting a bit old." No. The transition is way more complicated than that.
For most fans, the question when does Negan become good is really asking two things: when does he stop being the villain, and when do we actually start liking him? Those are two very different moments in The Walking Dead timeline. If we’re talking strictly plot, the "bad" version of Negan ends the second Rick Grimes slashes his throat in the Season 8 finale, "Wrath." But the man who actually tries to be "good"? That’s a long, agonizing walk through Season 9 and 10.
The Turning Point: It Started With a Blizzard
Honestly, the first time we see the "Savior" mask slip is in the Season 9 finale, "The Storm." After spending years rotting in a basement cell—eight years, to be exact—Negan is out in the world during a massive, life-threatening blizzard.
While everyone else is just trying not to freeze, Judith Grimes runs off into the snow to find Dog. Negan doesn't hesitate. He sprints into a literal whiteout, gets injured by flying debris, and manages to find her. He literally wraps his own jacket around her and carries her to safety. It’s the first time we see him risk his life for someone without any expectation of a reward. He’s not doing it for "points" or to lead a group; he’s doing it because he genuinely cares about Rick’s daughter.
This is the bridge. Up until this point, he was just a prisoner who talked too much. After this, the residents of Alexandria start to see him as a human being—a dangerous one, sure, but a human one nonetheless.
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When Does Negan Become Good in Season 10?
If Season 9 was about him being "not bad," Season 10 is where he actively tries to be a hero. It’s messy. Basically, Carol Peletier makes a backroom deal with him: "Kill Alpha, and I’ll make sure people stop looking at you like a monster."
The Infiltration
Negan joins the Whisperers. For several episodes, you actually think he’s reverted. He’s wearing a skin mask, he’s bowing to Alpha, and he’s even sleeping with her (which was... a choice). You’re sitting there on your couch thinking, I knew it. He’s still the same guy. ### The Big Reveal
Then comes Season 10, Episode 12, "Walk With Us." Negan lures Alpha to a cabin, promising her she’ll find her daughter, Lydia, inside. Instead, he slits her throat. It’s a brutal, cold-blooded murder, but for the first time, he’s doing it for the "good guys." He delivers her severed head to Carol, and just like that, the Whisperer War is essentially won.
But does that make him good? Maggie Rhee certainly doesn't think so.
The "Here’s Negan" Deep Dive
You can’t talk about Negan’s redemption without mentioning Season 10, Episode 22, "Here's Negan." This is widely considered one of the best episodes in the entire series. It takes us back to the start of the apocalypse.
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We see him before the leather jacket. He’s a disgraced gym teacher trying to save his wife, Lucille, from cancer while the world falls apart. He’s desperate, he’s scared, and he’s failing. This episode humanizes him by showing us that his "villain" persona was actually a coping mechanism for the trauma of losing her. He realized that in a world of monsters, you have to be the biggest monster to survive.
By the end of this episode, he burns his old bat. He says goodbye to the "Savior" version of himself. He’s ready to move on, even if the world isn't ready to let him.
The Problem With "Good"
The thing about Negan is that he never becomes a saint. He’s not Rick. He’s not Glenn. He will always have that edge. Even in the final season and the spinoff Dead City, he’s still capable of horrific violence.
In Dead City, we see him slip back into the "Old Negan" persona to intimidate a group of thugs. He does the whistle, the leaning, the "knock-knock" joke—the whole bit. But the difference is his motivation. He’s no longer killing to build an empire; he’s doing it to protect a young girl named Ginny and to help Maggie save her son.
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Key Milestones in Negan's Redemption
If you're looking for the specific "episodes of change," here they are:
- Season 8, Episode 16: He is defeated and imprisoned. The "dictator" era ends.
- Season 9, Episode 16: He saves Judith in the storm. The "human" era begins.
- Season 10, Episode 12: He kills Alpha. The "anti-hero" era begins.
- Season 10, Episode 22: He faces his past and lets go of "Lucille" the bat.
- Season 11, Episode 24: He offers a sincere, tearful apology to Maggie. This is arguably the moment he is truly "redeemed" in the eyes of the story.
Is He Ever Truly Redeemed?
This is where the debate gets heated. Some fans say he can never be "good" because of what he did to Glenn and Abraham. You can't just "sorry" your way out of a public execution.
Others argue that in the apocalypse, everybody has blood on their hands. Rick killed people in their sleep. Carol burned people alive. If they get to be heroes, why can't Negan? The show handles this brilliantly by never giving him a "pass." He has to live with the hate every single day. He doesn't get a happy ending where everyone loves him; he gets a life where he’s allowed to exist, but he'll always be looking over his shoulder.
What to Watch Next
If you want to see the "New Negan" in full force, your next step is The Walking Dead: Dead City. It focuses entirely on the uneasy alliance between him and Maggie. It’s dark, it’s gritty, and it forces him to confront whether he’s actually changed or if he’s just better at hiding the monster inside.
Start with Season 9, Episode 16 to see the first spark of change, then jump into Season 10 for the heavy lifting. You’ll see that Negan doesn't "become good"—he just decides to be better than he was yesterday. And in that world, maybe that's enough.