‘The Walking Dead’ News: Jeffrey Dean Morgan Promoted To Series Regular

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who made his debut as new big bad Negan on The Walking Dead last season, has been promoted to series regular for the series’ seventh season.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan Promoted

The Walking Dead has unsurprisingly promoted Morgan to the status of series regular, reported The Wrap. His character Negan, who made his first appearance in the season 6 finale, is the leader of the group called The Saviors. With Rick and members of the Alexandria group kneeling before him in the dirt, he gave a lengthy speech before killing someone with his barbed wire-wrapped bat, Lucille.

When The Walking Dead returns this fall, it will presumably be revealed who exactly Negan killed in his show of power. It’s expected that Negan will be the main antagonist throughout The Walking Dead‘s seventh season.

In addition to Morgan, Tom Payne, who plays Hilltop colony member Paul “Jesus” Monroe has also been promoted to series regular – so has Austin Amelio, who plays The Saviors member Dwight. The last new series regular is Xander Berkeley, who will continue to play Gregory, the leader of the Hilltop colony that caved to pressure from Neegan and The Saviors.

The Walking Dead will premiere on AMC in October.