The Walking Dead Season 5: Jon Hamm Cast as Negan? Not So Fast!

Who should play Negan when the “big bad” finally shows up on The Walking Dead Season … 6? 7?
It’s going to be a banner day in The Walking Dead universe when that casting is revealed. Everyone will have an opinion, so they’d better find someone good great perfect. Negan, leader of a not-so-nice group called The Saviors, doesn’t show up in the comics until Issue #100, and we’re still in the Issue #57-64 zone after four seasons, but his arrival is something they need to plan.
MTV.com talked to comic book writer/executive producer Robert Kirkman about the eventual arrival of Negan. If you’ve seen Negan in the comics, you know he’s a black-haired guy with a square jaw and a baseball bat named Lucille. He’s not a bad-looking dude, and if The Walking Dead Powers That Be wanted to cast a charismatic actor to pull off a huge role while also resembling the man on the page, they could do worse than a certain big, bad, handsome Mad man.
As MTV put it to RK, “You know, there is a guy AMC likes, who's just finishing up a run on a popular show on the network. Any chance you could snag Jon Hamm for the part?” Robert Kirkman replied, “He's not tall enough! That's a joke. I think Jon Hamm would be perfect. I think after Mad Men has run, Jon Hamm is going to have a Tom Hanks level film career, so I don't think he'll be coming back to television anytime soon. Although that would be cool!”
Don’t count him out! Some of the best roles out there are on TV, not film, and how could you top Negan on TWD? RK continued, “As far as Negan casting goes, Scott [Gimple] and I are always talking about who we would put in that, it's definitely on our minds, and there are definitely a lot of candidates. But I wouldn't expect Negan too terribly soon, although he is definitely in the plan. It's a 99% lock that he's going to be in the show eventually, so be on the lookout for that.”
Yes, yes, yes. We’ll have to come up with a list of potential Negan actors for the role. Jon Hamm looks a bit like Negan, but he’s not the only one who does (comic book artist Charlie Adlard once said Negan was based on Henry Rollins), and there’s no saying that has to matter either. Not everyone on screen looks like their comic book counterpart. Look at David Morrissey and The Governor of the comics. They look nothing alike, which was a surprise to some fans when he was first cast, but things turned out well. It’s best to start with the right actor, with the right presence for where they want to go with the role on TV. Then worry about how he looks.
What do you think? Jon Hamm for Negan? Jon Hamm for anything? Jon Hamm for president? If you don’t like Jon for Negan, which actor would you cast, or would you go for an unknown?
The Walking Dead Season 5 premieres in October 2014 on AMC.


Sources: MTV.COM