WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 14, "The Rotten Core," which aired Sunday, March 27 on AMC.
The Walking Dead's Negan is trying to become a new man, and it seems like falling in love is a part of his plan. In "The Rotten Core," Negan reveals he's married to Annie, one of the residents of Riverbend that the Commonwealth is trying to eliminate.
But who could forget about Negan's perfect wife, Lucille? That was the thing about Lucille -- she seemingly had no flaws, except for her choice in marrying the unfaithful Negan. It's been known since Season 8 that Negan's bat was named after his deceased wife (although comic book fans already knew that), and despite his multiple "wives," he would always be in love with her. It wasn't until the Season 10 finale, "Here's Negan," that the full scope of Lucille's story was untangled, and how she met her unfortunate death.
"Here's Negan" starts immediately with Lucille, indicating that this is more of Lucille's story than Negan's. Yes, it does feature his development into the cruel murderer that Rick's group know him as, but at its core, it's a love story between Lucille and Negan. Lucille was diagnosed with cancer nearing the start of the apocalypse, before anybody knew better about what was to come. She immediately tries to seek solace in her absent husband, who she discovers has been cheating on her with her best friend. Clearly, Negan has never been an all-around stand-up guy.
The episode continues with the two of them fighting over what would be Negan's iconic leather jacket, and the two bunkering together in the apocalypse while Lucille fights off the cancer. Negan's evolution into a survivor is all because he had to fight for Lucille's chemotherapy treatment. Unfortunately, Lucille decided to end her life on her own terms, leaving Negan devastated. From then on, Negan would sadistically honor Lucille's legacy through his barbed-wire baseball bat, which he buried at the end of "Here's Negan," symbolizing his acceptance of Lucille's death.
Negan hasn't had any meaningful relationships since Lucille, so it's surprising to see that he fell in love with Annie very quickly, given they've only known each other for a few months. Negan and Annie in "The Rotten Core" don't try hard to disguise their relationship, letting a subtle touch on the arm or lack of personal space define their status. Aaron takes notice of this, and this is when Negan shows a wedding band on his left ring finger. Annie then later reveals to Maggie that she's pregnant with his child, and is at least 12 weeks along.
The Walking Dead doesn't touch too much on their relationship, focusing on the Commonwealth chaos instead, but Negan and Annie's relationship can really benefit from some clarity. Because Negan has been gone since "No Other Way," and Annie was only introduced in the previous episode, their relationship seems to have spawned out of nowhere. There are too many lingering questions about how these two met and what made them fall in love with each other. There's even indication that Annie doesn't know about Negan's past with Maggie, which is arguably a huge chunk of Negan's moral character.
At least with Negan and Lucille, this relationship was well-established from Season 8, even if Lucille was never shown on screen. His grief and love for her allowed "Here's Negan" to properly feature their backstory in a genuine way, whereas Negan and Annie lack this connection. And another downside: Annie is now "Negan's new wife," and nothing more. She has been reduced to a plot device in Negan's redemption arc, which takes away from who she is as a person. Although, many could argue that Lucille suffered from the same restriction. What her character and her relationship with Negan could benefit from is a proper backstory, but it may seem a little too late for that in The Walking Dead's final season.
To see Negan in his honeymoon phase, watch The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 14 on AMC+. New episodes of The Walking Dead air every Sunday at 9 pm ET, and are available to stream a week early on AMC+.