Jeffrey Dean Morgan Reveals What Could Be Next for Negan After That Shocking Moment in ‘Dead City’

‘The Walking Dead: Dead City‘ has spent its third season doing something the spinoff has rarely managed before: letting Maggie and Negan actually build something together instead of just surviving side by side. That shift toward hope, rather than constant betrayal, has given the season a different emotional texture than the show’s first two years in Manhattan.

That fragile optimism has centered on Maggie’s growing community, now relocated fully from The Bricks and working alongside Renata’s group to restore basic necessities like electricity and medical care to a corner of the ravaged city. Negan, meanwhile, has spent much of the season keeping his distance from the day-to-day rebuilding effort, content to drink and pass the time at Dillard’s bar rather than fully commit to Maggie’s vision.

That detachment came to a head in season three, episode five, titled “Imperialis,” which aired August 23. According to Entertainment Weekly’s coverage of the episode, Negan delivered what’s being described as a final, no-holds-barred rejection aimed squarely at growing internal tension within the community, a moment framed as a definitive turning point in how far Negan is now willing to go to protect what Maggie has built.

Much of that tension traces back to Fabian, a community member still stinging from being publicly forced to apologize after getting caught stealing food from the armory. Rather than letting the incident go, Fabian heads to the bar and vents to Negan, placing the blame squarely on Maggie for relocating the community from The Bricks to Manhattan in the first place, a decision he sees as the root cause of their current struggles.

Negan tries to steer Fabian’s frustration toward Renata instead, but the attempt doesn’t land, and Fabian’s resentment continues building throughout the episode. By the end of “Imperialis,” Negan has concluded that Fabian’s escalating anger has made him a genuine threat, not just to the fragile stability of the community, but specifically to Maggie’s personal safety.

Meanwhile, the episode’s central mission finds Maggie and Renata devising a risky plan to clear a massive walker horde overrunning the Empire State Building, an operation that could restore steady electricity to the community if it succeeds, or push its starving, desperate residents toward chaos if it fails. That high-stakes backdrop only raises the tension around Negan’s growing suspicion that Fabian can no longer be trusted.

This latest development continues a pattern that’s defined much of season three so far, repeatedly asking how far Negan’s redemption arc can bend before it breaks entirely. Earlier in the season, Negan’s decision to kill the Dama despite Maggie choosing to spare her already reignited debate among fans and critics about whether the show is walking back years of character growth or simply revealing the parts of Negan that never fully went away.

With three episodes remaining before the season concludes on September 13, Negan’s willingness to draw hard lines around Maggie’s safety suggests the show is building toward another major confrontation before the finale. Whether that confrontation involves Fabian directly or signals a broader reckoning for the community Maggie has fought so hard to protect remains to be seen.

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