With the recent news that Jeffrey Dean Morgan has officially been cast as everyone’s favorite Walking Dead villain, Negan, a lot of die hard comic fans have been wondering whether or not the show will truly be able to capture the essence of Negan. Will he be just as ruthless? Will he be just as maniacally charming? Will he say “fuck” in nearly every sentence?
And there’s the kicker. The Walking Dead is on AMC, and they can get away with quite a few things because they’re a cable television network. But can they get away with the particular brand of dialogue that has become synonymous with the character from the Walking Dead comics? Probably not.
Last week I was sitting in a bar talking to some friends about this very subject and we found ourselves wondering just how much Negan uses profanity in the comics? We knew it was a lot, and any longtime reader can attest to this fact, but the question lingered in my mind for days. So to find out the answer, I decided to go back through every line of Negan’s dialogue, spanning from his first appearance in issue #100, all the way up to the current issue, #148.
After five hours of re-reading comics, documenting profanity and weeping like a baby again after the events of issue 100 (which I’ll go into later), I’ve come up with the the official total. But before I divulge the numbers, let’s take a moment to revisit the Negan character, for those of you who are clueless as to who the hell I’m talking about.
Negan is the foul-mouthed leader of The Saviors, a group of people who basically run a mob-style protection ring among communities of survivors. They would take half of a group’s supplies and in return, would offer protection and basically promise not to attack and murder everyone. Once Rick and his gang arrive in Alexandria, they find out about this extortion and decide to stand up to Negan and The Saviors – an act of defiance that results in the group being taken hostage on the road and taught a lesson from Negan himself, who bashes in Glen’s skull with “Lucille,” a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.
So not only is the character prone to horrific acts of violence, he also speaks in a way that would make the cast of Deadwood cringe. Negan can barely complete a sentence without saying “fuck,” “shit,” “cock” or “asshole,” and I’m reasonably convinced that as a baby, the first word he ever spoke was one of those. Also, Negan’s look was inspired by Henry Rollins, which only serves to make him more terrifying (or awesome, depending on your preference).
So now that you know who Negan is, and what’s he’s all about, I present to you my Official Negan Curse Word Count.
First, let’s begin with all variations of the word “fuck.”
Fucking – 282
Fuck -117
Motherfucking – 17
Fucked – 11
Fuckers – 9
Motherfucker – 8
Fucks – 6
Fucker -5
Absofuckinglutely – 2
Fuckless – 1
Fuckhead – 1
Fuckedy – 1
Fuckity – 1
What-The-Fuck-Ever – 1
Fire-Fucking-Truck – 1
That’s a grand total of 465 variations of the word “fuck.” Not bad at all. But “fuck” isn’t the only word Negan loves to use – not at all. Check out the rest of this shit.
Shit – 41
Shitting – 2
Shitty – 1
Shittier – 1
Shitheads – 1
Bullshit – 1
Dick – 16
Dickhole – 1
God damn – 21
Damn – 3
Hot damn – 1
Dammit -1
Bitch – 8
Cunt – 2
Cocksucking – 2
Asshole – 11
Ass – 2
Asses – 2
Badass – 1
Pussy – 3
Pussies – 1
Now, let’s keep a few things in mind – first of all, every word on that list has been spoken by a single character. And even more impressive, Negan does not appear in every single issue of The Walking Dead between #100 – #148. Are Robert Kirkman and the other creators trying to set some kind of record here?
I’m not at all certain how AMC plans to bring this character to life without a severe reimagining, which will no doubt send fans into an uproar. But we’re going to have to wait until the season finale to find out what AMC plans to do with this foul-mouthed mega villain.
*** WARNING: The preceding article contained an absurd amount of profanity. If you happened to recite this article aloud instead of reading a bedtime story to your child, you fucked up, and should probably reevaluate your parenting skills. ***
The Walking Dead is currently airing its sixth season on Sunday nights, exclusively on AMC.