The Walking Dead has only spent the span of a single scene with Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan, leading one to wonder how Season 7 might flesh out the character after such a skull-splitting entrance. Comic fans have an idea of which character ends up spending time with the new big bad, as showrunner Scott Gimple confirms Negan will develop a “strange respect” for someone on #TeamRick.

You’re warned of potential spoilers for Season 7 of The Walking Dead, as well the comics around Negan’s introduction, but where Season 6 finale “Last Day on Earth” practically followed Negan’s first comic scene to the letter, the aftermath may turn out every differently. Shortly after Glenn’s death at the barbs of “Lucille” in the comic, Carl stowed away with a Savior group to confront Negan himself, spending a bit of time in captivity thereafter.

Naturally, AMC’s rendition will showcase Negan in a modified light, but as Scott Gimple put it to ComicBook.com, we can very much expect a similarly unorthodox relationship:

Whether it’s with Carl or not, I cannot say. I absolutely want to explore Negan having that strange respect for someone which I think was the hallmark of that relationship and we’ll tell versions of that story.

So, which version might that be? You’re warned of EVERY POSSIBLE SEASON 7 SPOILER from this paragraph on, but by all accounts, it looks as if Norman Reedus’ Daryl Dixon will be the one spending a portion of the new episodes in captivity. We won’t show you the exact set images from The Spoiling Dead Fans here, but they’re rapidly spreading online.

At the very least, it’ll comfort viewers to know that Daryl at least survived the cliffhanger, even if the fan-favorite will only end up in more danger (and lose his stuff yet again).

We’ll surely learn more from the upcoming Comic-Con 2016 presentation (good luck keeping the victim out of that trailer!), potentially even new castings, but will Negan and Daryl become an unlikely new pairing for The Walking Dead Season 7?

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