The Walking Dead casts Hilarie Burton Morgan as Negan’s wife Lucille

The Walking Dead delivers a dream fan casting by tapping Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s real-life spouse Hilarie Burton Morgan as his on-screen wife Lucille.

The Walking Dead has cautiously begun filming the six bonus episodes that fans were promised over the summer. The six episodes are set in the same timeline as season 10 and are supposed to fill in some of the story gaps and give fans some backstories to tide them over until season 11. Filming for season 11 was postponed in the spring but is slated to begin in spring 2021 instead.

There’s been a lot of speculation about what stories the bonus episodes will tell because production will have to accommodate special filming requirements to keep the cast and crew safe.

Now it’s been confirmed that at least one of the episodes will feature some of Negan’s backstory because Hilarie Burton Morgan confirmed that she has been cast as Negan’s wife, Lucille, whose death at the beginning of the apocalypse had a profound effect on the man he ultimately became.

In The Walking Dead comic just around the time of the apocalypse, Negan’s wife Lucille was in the hospital dying from cancer. Their marriage was rocky because he had cheated on her while she was battling cancer. She was in the hospital fading quickly when the apocalypse began and died before acknowledging his profession of love to her. Later on, when his barbed wire wrapped bat became his signature weapon he named it Lucille after his wife.

His wife’s death was the first pivotal incident in Negan’s origin story, so the casting of Lucille definitely indicates that at least one of the six episodes will explore Negan’s origin story from his standalone comic series Here’s Negan that falls under The Walking Dead umbrella.

A fan wish granted

Because of the unique filming conditions that exist now, it makes perfect sense that The Walking Dead would cast Hilarie Burton Morgan to play Lucille. Since the two share a household they wouldn’t need to quarantine from each other and they would be able to film in closer proximity than other actors safely.

The casting also makes sense because of Burton’s own long acting career and talent, which make her a natural fit for The Walking Dead. She is best known for her role in the long-running drama One Tree Hill. But the casting also delights fans of The Walking Dead and fans of Negan, who have been asking for a long time that Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s wife be cast to play Lucille if the show ever did delve into Negan’s backstory.

Fan Twitter erupted with joyful tweets when the news was confirmed by Hilarie and all of the TWD family is glad to officially welcome her to the family of The Walking Dead.

How do you feel about this casting announcement? Sound off in the comments.