‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’: Jeffrey Dean Morgan & Lauren Cohan Tease Tone Shift & Negan’s ‘New Best Friend’

Warning: The Walking Dead: Dead City is back for Season 3 on AMC, and it might be the most light-hearted season of Dead yet. “It’s a change of pace, a change of tone,” notes Lauren Cohan, who, alongside her costar Jeffrey Dean Morgan, visited the TV Insider offices to chat about the newest evolution of their show and characters for the third installment, premiering July 26. “There’s a lot of depth, but a lot of lightness, and it’s a whole new dynamic.”

Agrees Morgan: “It was time for, I think, the tone to shift, to have it shift in this relationship. We’ve been having a similar tone with the two of us for 10 years — it’s 10 years for seasons, but within the show, about 20 years has passed.”

For Maggie, there’s been a lot of hurt feelings — justifiably so! — for a long time. Now, she’s trying to put the past in the past in regards to Negan. In the season premiere, the two will meet some survivors who will help them gain that momentum towards a better future: siblings Renata (Aimee Garcia) and Luis (Raúl Castillo). Renata leads a local hospital-based community, and she and her doctor brother are searching for some of that sweet methane power to get an incubator up-and-running for an incoming baby. Maggie and Negan help, and eventually, come into the fold of this new community.

“I think what’s fresh about it is, you see new communities or new frontiers in The Walking Dead Universe, but this feels like the beginning of something that’s a little bit more lasting, which ironically comes off the back of the most unlikely alliance,” Cohan continues.

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There’s still villains to contend with in the Big (Rotten) Apple, including the theatrical brainwashing baddie, the Dama (Lisa Emery), lurking around, as well as the Croat (Željko Ivanek), Negan’s former Savior. But, there’s new pals, too. Negan’s new friend, Dillard (Jimmi Simpson), is an eccentric bartender who thinks he can speak to the dead.

“We run into him in a bar where he’s been surviving since the beginning of the apocalypse. It becomes a major hangout for all of us, especially Negan. I don’t think he leaves for a couple months, because there’s a video console there,” says Morgan with a laugh. “But Dillard becomes Negan’s new best friend.”

Cohan and Morgan also discuss whether they ever think about saying goodbye to Maggie and Negan, hitting onscreen milestones with these characters, and working with their new costars this season. Check it all out in the video above.

The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 3 Premiere, Sunday, July 26, 9/8c, AMC and AMC+