Jeffrey Dean Morgan was far from an industry newcomer when he landed the role of Negan, but he wasn’t quite prepared to star in a series as high-profile as “The Walking Dead.” Looking back on the experience of joining the cast, Morgan told The New York Times in 2022, “I was a big fan of the show, and I knew it was going to attract a bit of attention. But I had no idea of the levels of crazy that it was going to be.”
When asked in 2016 how the series had changed his life, Morgan jokingly admitted to AOL, “I need security.” He described some strange interactions with fans, saying, “People will follow me home. I get weird mail.” Despite already having been on popular shows like “Grey’s Anatomy,” the intensified attention was a big change. “I’m a very private dude,” Morgan told ABC News in 2017. “I live in the middle of nowhere, so it’s been an adjustment.”
Morgan told AOL, “Everyone told me when I showed up on the set for this show that my life was gonna change, and I thought, ‘well that’s b*******.'” However, he later realized that the role was far different than anything he’d done before. Although Morgan is a self-professed “private guy,” he told Men’s Journal in 2021 that being on the series and the success of his wife’s bestselling memoir “The Rural Diaries” helped him realize there’s “not a lot there to hide anymore.” He explained how freeing that feeling was, calling it “a weight off my shoulders.”
