To put it simply, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is Negan, totally making the now-iconic role all his own. The image of him in his black leather jacket, combat boots, slicked-back hair, flashing a devious smile through his tight graying beard is instantly recognizable. In fact, some might even say it's impossible to imagine anyone other than Morgan taking on the part, but that was very nearly the case. When Walking Dead artist Charlie Adlard created the character, he based his look on musician Henry Rollins, who auditioned for the Negan role before Morgan gave it a swing (pun intended).
Rollins spoke to Forbes in 2016 and discussed the process, recalling the excitement online about Negan's TWD debut. "The internet was wild with speculation because, in the upcoming season, they were going to introduce the character," he says, continuing, "A woman that works in my office put my name and the character's name into an internet search and all this speculation came up. I went for the audition, and there were five pages of really cool dialogue with all these curses and it was beautiful, but I didn't get it."
He then goes on to add that while many thought he should've gotten the part, he didn't mind and was very impressed with Jeffrey Dean Morgan's approach. "I later saw a photograph of the guy who did get it, and he looks almost exactly like the comic book rendering." Rollins wasn't the only big name who vied for the Negan gig, as Scream's own Matthew Lillard gave it a shot as well, only to lose out to Morgan (via JoBlo.com).
