Josh McDermitt Says Eugene Is ‘Firmly Negan’ In ‘The Walking Dead’

“The Walking Dead” Season 8 will continue to see Eugene (Josh McDermitt) on Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) side.

While speaking with Entertainment Weekly ahead of this month’s premiere, McDermitt said that his character will no longer be invested in the people of Alexandria.

“He’s firmly Negan. He either chooses Alexandria or he chooses Negan, and he’s decided to go with Negan. I don’t think there is a sense of, ‘Well, I’m going to be Negan and then I’m going to be subversive and work against him’ or any of that because, again, Eugene’s all about his own survival. So as long as he’s living in the Sanctuary, he’s Team Negan,” he said.

In Season 7, Eugene turned to the dark side after his lie about the Human Genome Project was busted. He suddenly proved his allegiance to Negan, the villainous character that the people of Alexandria want to have anything to do with.

Now that Eugene will be staying in the Sanctuary with Negan’s minions, the former Savior has to learn how to adapt to his new environment. “It’s a very aggressive culture over in the Sanctuary. He’s starting to change his appearance… Yeah, it’s definitely fun to see someone like Eugene in a culture like that because he doesn’t fit and so there’s always this kind of sore thumb sticking out, and any interactions with anybody in this world is ripe for comedy. Even though they’re not written that way, I think you can still find some humor in them.”

Meanwhile, McDermitt spoke with the same publication last week to share what he wishes to happen to his character in the upcoming episodes of the hit AMC series. “My wish list for Eugene is that number one that he survives. Number two, that I would like to see him go further into the darkness. Right now he’s Negan, but I would like to actually see him be Negan, or be the guy controlling a community who feels like he’s completely justified in his actions but is the bad guy,” he said.

“The Walking Dead” Season 8 will premiere on AMC on Oct. 22 at 9 p.m. EDT.