After the series finale of The Walking Dead, many fans were left wondering how Maggie and Negan’s stories would merge together for Dead City. Negan left our group to head off with his pregnant wife Annie to start their family elsewhere while Maggie continued as the leader of the Hilltop. When they reunited in Dead City, Maggie asked the exact question that fans wanted to know: What happened to Negan’s wife Annie and their child? Negan finally decided to answer her inquiry in season one, episode three and yes, it involves heartbreaking violence.
Negan tells Maggie that he lived in a cabin outside of New Babylon with Annie and Joshua, his son. (This further confirms that Dead City is more than 12 years into the apocalypse.) Annie went into town to do trading one day and didn’t return by nightfall. Negan knew something was amiss, so he went out to look for her. He found Annie and she’d been robbed and badly beaten. Despite Annie pleading with him to let it go, Negan found the five men at a drinking hole and killed all of them.
Afterward, his family went on the run and the transient lifestyle was hard on Annie. Negan put Annie and Joshua on a wagon train to Missouri, telling him that he would be right behind them. Instead, he stayed behind and hopes that they are okay. Of course, Maggie doesn’t have a ton of sympathy for him and, to be honest, it is hard to.
His choice to stay behind didn’t really make any sense. He had no reason to want to stay in the area, especially considering that he’s a wanted man. Negan and his family would have been safe to start a new life that’s far removed from the East Coast.
There really was no other solid rationale behind this decision except to push them out of the picture so he could go on a dummy mission with Maggie in season one. His situation also explains why he was such a fatherly figure to Ginny. He’s missing out on Joshua’s life and, until now, probably felt like he wasn’t going to see him again.
Annie and Joshua didn’t appear in the first season of Dead City but the premiere episode of season two reveals that we will see them soon. In this season, Negan is in prison and refuses to be the ruthless leader of men that the Croat and the Dama want him to be. He changes his tune after a conversation with Dama, who says that her people heard about a woman and child in a settlement in Tennessee.
Their Missouri wagon train never made it to its destination, hence why they are now in Tennessee. She says that they are in route to the island, which means he must go along with their plan to rally up opposing gang factions to fight the New Babylon Federation. So this means Negan will reunite with Annie and Joshua later this season. What were their lives like since his departure? And how will their presence drive his decisions in the future? We shall see.
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