One thing that bothered some fans about "The Walking Dead" last season when following social media was how the lines between good and evil were getting blurry. With Negan as the main villain, the show seemed to go a long way in showing that he was maybe a little more in touch with reality than the heroes fans have loved to follow, led by Rick Grimes. "Walking Dead" showrunner Scott Gimple touched on that in an interview with ComicBook.com and talked about how Rick and Negan are more alike than fans might want to believe.
The similarities between Negan and Rick
When fans met Negan, he had many of the show's fan favorites kneel around in a circle and then viciously beat both Abraham and Glenn to death with his barbed wire baseball bat he named Lucille. That instantly made him the worst villain the show's history. However, looking back at what led to this vicious killing and Rick Grimes was nowhere near innocent on "The Walking Dead."
When Rick and his friends found the Hilltop Community, they learned that Negan was terrorizing the town. Rick pretty much made a deal with Hilltop and said they he wanted a large portion of their food and supplies and in exchange, he would kill Negan. This is despite Rick not knowing anything about Negan other than what the Hilltop people told him.
Rick then led an attack on a Negan base and slaughtered almost everyone there as they slept. It was a vicious and inhumane action that Rick only did to make sure that his people had food and supplies to survive. Only on a show like "The Walking Dead" can a hero like Rick kill numerous strangers while they slept and be seen as a hero while Negan can kill two people in revenge and be seen as a villain.
Scott Gimple on the "Walking Dead" heroes and villains
When asked about Negan, "Walking Dead" showrunner Scott Gimple said that if he was leading the heroes on the show, they might be in the exact same place that they are right now. The difference is that fans would see Negan as the hero and Rick as the villain. Gimple admitted that what Rick does is the actions of a bad person but viewers believe he is justified in what he does based on what he went through to get to this point.
Scott Gimple said that things on "The Walking Dead" are getting "grayer and grayer" and that there is not much difference between what Rick has done and what Negan is doing. The only area that is different between the two are their philosophies and that is where fans will see one as a hero and the other as a villain.
