Michael Rooker (Merle Dixon) explains how The Walking Dead should end

Michael Rooker (Merle Dixon) explains how The Walking Dead should end and its brilliant.

   

You can hear what he said by clicking here 

Why Negan's ruining The Walking Dead

We get it, Negan's a bad guy.

Like a lot of Walking Dead fans I was looking forward to meeting Negan. He's such a major character in the comics and when the part was cast you thought this will be interesting.
If only.

Since his introduction Negan has ruined the show for me and I'm not alone.

Before he was first seen on screen we heard cast regulars saying how mesmerizing Jeffery Dean Morgan is in the role. But if he's so good, why is the world's most popular TV show losing so many viewers?

Sure not seeing most of our favourites on screen each week doesn't help - but then, maybe letting the cast do other things is the only way to keep them?

We need more King Ezekiel and less Negan.

These so called bottle episodes have mainly fallen flat, apart from one. Hey, why give us just one episode of King Ezekiel, Chiva, court jester Jerry and rebellious Richard who the King saved from Negan's bunch of thugs?

Glenn's grisly death put off viewers.

Glenn's grisly death that was seen as too sick by some with the double whammy of losing Abraham first also delivered a right punch in the gut. Some viewers said they wouldn't be watching again.

But it's having the show that's strength has been its strong characters like Carol, Rick, Michonne and Daryl, centre around just one man that's really screwing with the Walkerverse.

For one thing, Negan's predictable posturing has got boring. There's no surprises. He's the Big Bad Wolf who's gonna blow everyone's house down. He's the panto villains who never says something in a word where twenty will do.

Negan's bullying of Daryl Dixon is getting old. 

He's got fan favourite Daryl Dixon as some kind of janitor, shuffling about in rags.

And he kills boy children as young as eleven according to the Oceansiders.

And that's the thing about Negan - he's too extreme and it wouldn't surprise you to find out he eats babies too.

Bow to Negan? Give me a break.

He's not a leader. He's the biggest bully the show has ever had. Watching him make a man like Rick Grimes cower and Daryl Dixon walk around in rags is not what I want to be watching. Nor is hearing about his wives - women forced to sleep with him in exchange for keeping their loved ones safe.

What do I want to see on the show? How about this-
When the two D's, Daryl and Dwight were alone in that room with Negan and he was boasting about sleeping with Dwight's wife and contributing to the death of his wife's sister, they could and should have tried to kill Negan.

Dwight could have let Daryl go then come out roaring, "The prisoner killed Negan." Then he could have taken over.

Dwight could have teamed up with Daryl and killed Negan.

At the end of the day, Negan is just one man. He can die like everybody else. Yet he's treated like he's untouchable.

But the worst thing about the baseball bat wielding thug isn't his grinning thuggery that's all done with a tremendous amount of bragging and long winded speeches, it's that in Negan's world the threat from walkers seems have been extinguished and he's the biggest threat to civilization.

Here we have a zombie show where the undead are getting less and less terrifying as the show goes on and one character is the source of all the fear.


It's time The Walking Dead's makers realised it's a show about zombies and not about a smug thug with a baseball bst named after his dead wife Lucille.

Blame dumb ass Rick for Glenn's death not Daryl Dixon

Daryl wasn't the dumb ass.

Wow, that was a shocker of an episode. (If you haven't watched the season 7 Walking Dead premiere please stop reading as there's spoilers ahead.)

When Glenn got his comic book death, it was Daryl who some folk blamed after he punched Negan for killing Abraham. The reasoning I guess, is that if he hadn't done that Glenn would have still been alive.

But, is fan favourite Daryl really the dumb ass here? 

No. To me, its Rick Grimes. The leader the group would follow anywhere who made the biggest mistake of all - not knowing his enemy.

I might have been in the majority here, but I'm glad Daryl landed a punch on the most evil character in The Walking Dead so far. And that's saying a lot when you remember how the cannibal Terminus lot saw other survivors (including children) as food.

Why blame Rick? 
When they all had the meeting in the church to discuss taking on Negan's Saviors (Season 6 episode 12 "Not tomorrow yet"), only Morgan suggested talking to them first, which might not have been such a bad idea. They would have been able to see the lay of the land. Find out just how big an army he had.

Heck, they might actually have found out what this big, bad Negan looked like.

Even Rick admitted he knew how dangerous the Saviours were in the church meeting - "These saviors they almost killed Daryl, Sasha and Abraham on the road. Now sooner or later they would have found us, just like those wolves did, just like Jesus did. They would have killed someone or some of us and they would try to own us and we would try to stop them."

Then he emphasised that the decision to go after Negan and the saviors "needs to be a group decision."

So, who stepped up and said, "Hey, going in without knowing much is stupid, Rick"?

What about soldier Abraham? Where was he with his words of advice?

Why no reconnaissance? Soldiers don't blunder in, they have battle plans. Where was Abraham's?

Sasha was a firefighter in her old life. That's a job that takes a tremendous amount of discipline and planning. Yet she forgot everything when it came to the chat in the church.

Michonne is a planner. Rick would have listened to her.

Same goes for Daryl.

Morgan was the only one who spoke up about Negan plan. 

Only Morgan stepped up and said his piece. His advice about talking to the saviors first was a bad idea. Maybe then they'd have learnt that taking on Negan and his mob wasn't something they could do alone.

Rick and all the others ignored Morgan. They went in blindly, even taking pregnant Maggie along and murdered Negan's men in their compound whilst they slept.

Rick killed him thinking he was Negan.

Heck, Rick even executed a man they thought was Negan without checking out who he was first.

For the first time we started to think, hey, maybe Rick and his group of survivors are the bad guys.

Ultimately though, it was Rick being a dumbass - as Glenn famously called him in season one when he saved them from encroaching walkers - that ultimately led to the death of two of the show's most iconic characters.

He was the leader without a proper plan. He didn't even know who Negan was.

He certainly does now.

Footnote for Rick - you get the group together and people alive, but you can't always succeed. Remember this -

It's not the getting knocked down, it's the getting back up again.

The world needs Rick Grimes.

How Negan dies on The Walking Dead

What I hope happens to evil Negan on The Walking Dead - he gets eaten by Maggie and Glenn's zombie baby.

You've been bitten. How long do you have?

She's not got long.

Check out the zombie bite calculator. 

You've been bitten.

How long do you have? 

The Walking Dead's Biggest Shock Ever? Every baby Dies.

There have been rumors that more than one main character will die in The Walking Dead season 7 premiere. And that whatever happens will be a major game changer for the show.

I wrote a blog post on Why it shouldn't be Glenn they kill and another on Who I think will die in the show. You can read it here 

But what if Negan doesn't kill them all?

Maggie's in a pretty bad way and it's odds on that somebody will die trying to help her. Not that anybody can help her unless the laughably named Saviors have a doctor. Let's face it calling bloodthirsty thugs who murder some of your group to teach them a lesson the saviors is a bit like calling Terminus Disneyland.

But there's still a strong chance that Maggie and her baby may not survive and it won't be Negan's fault?

In episode 13 of season, The Same Boat, Carol and Maggie are captured during Rick's ill fated attempt to kill Negan who's nowhere the complex they raid.

After Maggie reveals she's pregnant, one of her captors a young woman with a striking resemblance to Maggie, reveals she was pregnant too but lost the baby in the apocalyptic world.

What if since the outbreak very few or no woman can have a baby?

Sure Lori had Judith, but what if she got pregnant BEFORE the outbreak? Maybe to Shane when Rick was in a coma?

Now that would be the biggest game changer in the Walking Dead universe since the 'We're all infected.'

When you get depressed by The Walking Dead and death/deaths to come at Negan's hands, remember this...

When you get depressed by The Walking Dead and imminent death/deaths at Negan's hands, remember this -

Reunions are sweet on The Walking Dead

The gang will back together, folks and Negan will be consigned to history just like the Governor:) 

Why Glenn shouldn't Die in The Walking Dead

Don't let it be Glenn.

We've waited such a long time after being left in heartbreaking limbo over what's been a very long summer.

Will Glenn be the one to die like he does in the comics at the end of Negan's bat Lucille?

If you're asking me, the last thing I want is the TV show to follow the comics.

For one thing, it makes it too predictable and I want to be surprised.

Killing off such a major character as Glenn would be a death too far. Tyreeses's death in the show was pointless apart from letting someone direct a Tarrantino-esque episode. 

The show simply doesn't have enough major characters to lose Glenn, one of say only half a dozen characters that could have a stand alone episode and keep you interested. Apart from flashes from Aaron, the Alexandrians have been a boring, whining, inspid lot. 

When Rick's new squeeze and her two kids died, did we care? 

Glenn feel like he's the one person on the show who represents us. Maybe it's because we've been with him from the beginning.

From the minute the former pizza delivery boy arrived on the scene and saved Rick Grimes. To the moment he finally had to break his code of having never killed a human being at one of Negan's outposts.

So, who should Negan kill?

I love horror movies, so this is how I'd like things to go -

Negan swings his baseball bat like a pantomime villain and aims it at the man he perceives as the biggest physical threat.

Someone who glares him down whilst everybody watches on helplessly or looks away.

Somebody who doesn't quiver in fear.

That man's Abraham.

The shock of what's happening makes Maggie go into premature labour.

The baby comes out stillborn and starts to eat her. After the first bite, Maggie's fate is sealed.

Meet Maggie's baby 

As everybody watches on in horror, Negan merely smiles. When you're a sociopath and kill without any regret or emotion, watching a zombie baby eat it's mom ain't that shocking.

How would that change The Walking Dead universe?

1. It could mean that since the outbreak most babies cannot be born safely. Lori was okay because she might have become pregnant by Shane/Rick before the outbreak.

2. With Maggie gone, Glenn would have to find a way to carry on. Would he turn to the dark side? I sure hope so. It'd give us a chance to see another side to him.

3. Carol would come back in full psycho killer mode, something I hope she will do when she hears about what Negan did and how he steals men's partners and forces them to sleep with him in exchange for food (that's if his character follows the comic).

4. Morgan would need to realise his "All life is precious" mantra should be "Some life is precious and the other kind needs a bullet to the head." We could get to see more of that stick action.

So, what do you think folks, how would you like to see The Walking Dead premiere go? 

Abraham dies in The Walking Dead at Negan's hands (My prediction)

With the season 6 finale of The Walking Dead leaving us puzzled/angry/incensed and wondering who Negan killed with his baseball bat Lucille, there's a lot of theories going around about who got their head smashed in with Negan's barbed wire bat when Season 7 starts. 

Eeenie, meenie, miny moe...where my bat lands nobody knows

In my last post, I wrote about how Carol would die to save Daryl, not because I thought it'd happen (Carol is one of the few stars in the show who can go all Die Hard on her enemies ass - just ask the saviors), but because it'd make a fitting end for a warrior.

Comic Kingdom meets the TV Walkerverse

Of course, Carol is safe after Morgan saved her from her death wish, Together they've met one of the members of The kingdom, a community led by Ezekiel who we'll be seeing soon along with his pet tiger. 

Someone who definitely has been captured is is Abraham who left with Rick's and Co to take Maggie to the doc at the Hilltop colony. Since Denise's death and Rick shot dead the only other doctor, Alexandria has no doctor.

This is why I think with some regret that Abraham will be the one one Negan takes out. 

Denise got the arrow Abraham got in the comics.

1. Denise's death by arrow was Abraham's death in the comics. Seems like they wanted Abraham to die a more iconic death. Keeping him for Negan, perhaps?

Abraham is lucky Rosita didn't kill him when he dumped her.

2. Once a man gets their shit together in The Walking Dead, they're doomed. Abraham ditched Rosita (he did it in such a callous way, she should have killed him) after he decided Sasha was the one he wanted to be with. Happiness doesn't survive in the walkerverse.

Is this the last thing Abraham will see? 

Negan - a fitting death for Abraham? 

3. Michael Cudlitz said in an interview after Beth's death, that she didn't deserve the death she got and Abraham death by arrow in the comics wasn't a big enough death for Abraham. The actor wanted an iconic death. What more iconic death could there be than at the hands of Negan?

Read the interview with the actor here 

Soon we'll know the truth - we hope - but its The Walking Dead's capacity to have us talking about these things that makes it the biggest TV show in the world.

What next in Season 7 of The Walking Dead?

The Walking Dead season 6 finale left most of frustrated, angry, sad even as we watched what we assume was someone die at the hands of Negan's vicious bat Lucille.

But with Morgan and Carol coming across two men in body armour who are probably from The Kingdom, the finale did offer some hope.

But apart from us meeting new people, what else can we expect in season 7 of the hit show?

Here's some suggestions -

1. Michonne's gets her revenge on the man who cut off one of her dreads.

2. Where Daryl's arrow goes into Dwight, the X-ray will look like this. 

3. If Abraham does get battered to death by Negan's baseball bat this is how he'll go out.

4. The next time Rick hears a man whistle, he'll do this.

What The Walking Dead taught me about writing

Dumb decisions brought Rick and the gang to this point.

Most of the second half of Season 6 of The Walking Dead didn't make sense.

Most of the characters we know and love acted like they'd lost their minds.

Okay, I've said it. 

And I'm not alone in thinking it. 

The Walking Dead made us feel like this.

The last few episodes leading up the Walking Dead season 6 finale had a lot of people screaming at their TV screens. The reason - the characters that viewers know (probably as well as most family members) and love started acting out of character.

Rick kills Primo thinking he's Negan. 

Take Rick Grimes. He goes after Negan's gang not even knowing who exactly they are, what Negan looks like and whether his group will be outnumbered and outgunned. 

Does that make any sense for such a shrewd leader? No way, Jose.

Then there's our beloved Daryl Dixon. With the big bogey man coming in the shape of comic villain Negan (did Rick Grimes really think the red shirt he killed so easily in a previous episode was dictator Negan - I doubt it), Daryl Dixon decided to go after Savior Dwight who killed Dr Denise with an arrow to the head. Daryl believed he'd caused her death by not killing Dwight when he had the chance. 

Daryl Dixon gets caught too easily. Like that should happen!

If Daryl Dixon had gone after his zombie apocalypse soulmate, Carol, that'd have made sense. But getting justice for Denise, I just don't see it.

Rick and Daryl weren't the only ones behaving out of character.

When a psycho is coming, you need Carol. 

Carol, the mother of the group, decides to leave Tobin a Dear John letter and quit Alexandria. Bully Negan's heading their way, but hey she can't kill for anyone any more. Even though she's pretty good at it.

Abraham doesn't tell Rick his plan to take out the saviors is dumb.

Soldier Abraham doesn't even suggest they do some fact-finding on Negan and his band of thieves before they kill some of his cohorts whilst they're sleeping. There's no due diligence like, "Hey, Rick shouldn't we check the guy you're about to kill genuinely is the Big, Bad Wolf?"

But, no the story isn't being dictated by Rick, Daryl, Carol and Abraham. What Rick and Co do is being dictated by the story. The writers are using them like pawns on a chessboard.

Annoying isn't it when characters are manipulated like that, and unsatisfying. 

And that's why so many fans like me are angry with The Walking Dead - we know these characters and how they'll react and its not how they've been acting on the show. 

Rick would find out everything he could about Negan before he went after him.

Daryl wouldn't go and get himself and a lot of his friends taken.

Carol would kill again - even if it was one last time.

Abraham would say to Rick, "We need to do this right."

Michonne getting caught? No way. 

No matter what you're writing, your characters have to act in a believable way. Rick, Daryl, Carol and Abraham haven't been doing that.

Their characters have been messed with to make the story go a certain way and that leaves viewers disappointed.

As a writer, you don't want your readers to feel the same way. They'd be perfectly entitled to throw your book across the room.

Characters must be consistent and if they change, there must be a very good reason for it.

Good storytelling has to make some sense, or your readers will be left disappointed. 

How Carol could die to save Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead Season 6 finale

Could Carol and Daryl be about to say goodbye?

When Negan does first appear in Issue 100, he punishes Rick Grime's group for taking on The Saviors by choosing someone in the group to bash with his baseball bat, named Lucille. In the comics, Glenn gets his head bashed in.

Who'll meet their grisly end under Negan's bat?

But, wouldn't it make more sense if Negan targets Daryl instead? He did after all vaporise some of his best men and equipment with a rocket launcher after they made the mistake of telling Daryl, Abraham and Sasha, "Everything you own is Negan's now."

No wonder they ended up as puddles of blood. 

So, Negan targets Daryl. 

Carol has had enough in the walkerverse?

Step toward Carol. "He might have killed a few of your gang, but I killed a lot," she sneers. 

She'll tell how she trapped the newly arrived Saviors on the kill floor, which had been doused with gasoline and how she then threw her lit cigarette into the room and watched as their bodies went up in flames. 

Carol threw the match that burned the saviors alive. Will Negan take his revenge?

Way to out psycho a psycho Carol. 

Would it be any wonder if Negan decided to turn Lucille on one the most dangerous people in the walkerverse? 

What do you think? Who will end their days as a bloody pulp? 

If Carol does die she'll go out as the woman who singlehandedly saved them all from Terminus, in one of the best all-time episodes of The Walking Dead.

Negan's other victim?

Negan could choose to kill more than one person. The actor who plays Heath has landed the starring role in the 24 reboot, so it could be him.

Could Abraham be next to go? 

Abraham dodged an arrow death in the TV show and poor doctor Denise got it instead. Could his luck be about to run out? He seems to be the most likely candidate. 

Denise got the arrow that killed Abraham in the comics. 

Note - this is how I'd write it and not based on any inside information or spoilers I've read.