what happens to negan in the walking dead

Negan survives the main The Walking Dead TV series, but he loses his power, spends years in prison, partially redeems himself, goes into exile, and then reappears in the spin‑off Dead City as a rough-edged antihero partnered with Maggie.

Negan in the main series

• Negan is defeated after the war with the Saviors and is kept alive by Rick, who has him imprisoned in Alexandria for years instead of executed.

• During this time jump, major events happen (like Rick’s presumed death and new enemy groups appearing) while Negan sits in a cell, effectively removed from power and forced to live with what he’s done.

• Eventually, when the Whisperers threaten all the communities, Negan is allowed out under strict conditions and ends up killing Alpha, their leader, which starts his path toward a grudging redemption.

His fate by the series finale

• By the end of The Walking Dead, Negan is no longer the main villain; he’s more of an uneasy ally who has helped the group survive multiple threats.

• He and Maggie finally have a serious conversation where he apologizes for murdering Glenn and admits how deeply he wronged her, but she also makes it clear she can never truly forgive him.

• Understanding that Maggie will always see him as the man who killed her husband, Negan ultimately walks away to live on his own, effectively exiling himself from the main group.

Negan’s backstory and transformation

• A dedicated backstory episode (“Here’s Negan”) reveals that before the apocalypse he was a flawed but ordinary man whose wife, Lucille, died of cancer after he failed to get her chemotherapy in time.

• Her death, and the brutality he experiences trying to protect her, push him into becoming the ruthless leader we first meet, naming his barbed‑wire bat “Lucille” after her.

• Later he breaks his bat and symbolically says goodbye to that old self, burning what’s left and choosing a quieter life, which signals the death of “classic Negan” even though he’s still alive.

What happens in Dead City (spin‑off)

• Negan returns as a main character in The Walking Dead: Dead City, set several years after the original show, now in a ruined New York City.

• Maggie seeks him out because her son Hershel has been kidnapped, and Negan is the one person who knows the kidnapper and how he operates.

• The two form a tense, reluctant partnership to rescue Hershel, with their history constantly hanging over them while they navigate gangs and walkers in Manhattan.

How Dead City changes his status

• By the end of Dead City season 1, it’s revealed Maggie secretly made a deal: she promised to hand Negan over to the kidnapper in exchange for Hershel’s safety.

• When Negan discovers this betrayal, he still offers himself up to protect Hershel, showing how far he’s come from the purely self‑serving tyrant he once was.

• He’s left in enemy hands and separated from Maggie, setting up his unresolved future and leaving open questions about where his story will ultimately end.

Forums and “latest news” vibe

• Fan discussions on forums often debate whether Negan has been “redeemed enough” or if he deserves a harsher ending, with many split between loving his arc and wanting justice for his past crimes.

• As of recent discussions, Negan is treated in the franchise as a complex antihero whose final fate is still being explored in spin‑offs rather than a simple “dies or lives happily ever after” answer.

TL;DR: In the main show Negan is defeated, imprisoned, helps defeat the Whisperers, apologizes to Maggie, and then leaves to live alone, still alive but stripped of power. In Dead City, he’s dragged back into conflict in New York with Maggie, sacrifices his freedom to save Hershel, and his ultimate fate remains open for future seasons.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.