How The Walking Dead Fans Really Feel About Negan's Big Moment In Season 11 Episode 1
Contains spoilers for Season 11, Episode 1 of "The Walking Dead"
Episode 1 of the eleventh and final season of "The Walking Dead," "Acheron: Part 1," follows a group of Alexandria residents led by Maggie (Lauren Cohan) as they go on a search for supplies and get trapped in an abandoned subway tunnel. Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is part of the group, but Maggie's resentment and mistrust of him causes tension — not just with him, but with the whole group, as some people think Maggie is letting her anger cloud her judgment. When the tunnel fills up with walkers, the group takes refuge in a subway car. Negan and Maggie are the last two to pull themselves up onto the roof of the car.
Maggie is behind Negan, and the walkers close in as she's climbing. A walker grabs her leg and starts to pull her down, and she calls out to Negan for help. He peers over the edge of the car and sees that she's in mortal danger. Rather than help her, he leaves her.
It's a big moment for Negan, and an escalating moment in his and Maggie's conflict, which has been at a simmer since Maggie returned to Alexandria. Maggie is still angry with Negan for killing her husband Glenn (Steven Yeun), because of course she is.
Even though Negan's choice to leave Maggie behind was cruel, fans understand why he did it.
Negan isn't right, but he isn't wrong either
On the subreddit r/thewalkingdead, user YaKnowSomething started a discussion by writing that "Negan was right to do what he did," because he knows Maggie wants him dead. She admitted she was thinking about it. "Yea morally he should've saved maggie, but if I were him I would've been pretty scared to save someone who literally is on the verge of shooting me in the back of the head," they wrote.
crystals_and_coffee wrote that if the roles were reversed in the same situation, Maggie would not help Negan, which feels very true. "That summarizes every theory, question or fact on the matter," replied CanadianMoose2021. "True that. Case closed."
phantom_avenger added that even if Negan did save Maggie, it wouldn't change her opinion of the former leader of the Saviors. "Not saying what he did was right, or defending his decision but I do understand what was going through his head," they wrote. "No matter what he does, he's still going to be a dead man to Maggie. So he's probably thinking 'if you're going to kill me anyway, why should I bother? This isn't going to work if we aren't willing to trust each other, so you're on your own.'"
On the other hand, bloodyturtle thought Negan's choice was stupidly short-sighted. "The likelihood of her dying to a couple walkers isn't high, she'll be pissed when she shows up again, her friends would all be instantly suspicious when she doesn't turn up, and helping her would build trust and goodwill between them even if it's only subconsciously," they wrote. "Negan was being self righteous."
Negan better hope Maggie dies, because if there was a chance she wasn't going to kill him before, she's definitely going to try now. Their cold war is turning hot.