Negan furiously attacks Rick before the two are surrounded by walkers and flames, forcing Negan to reclaim Lucille and flee — only to be captured by Jadis ( Pollyanna McIntosh), who tortures Negan until he reveals that he had nothing to do with the massacre of her people. Enraged, Negan tosses his glass at the chair, shattering the glass and causing the hallucination to disappear. He makes his way back to the Savior compound to find that Simon has been ruling in his stead, and is responsible for the bloodshed at Jadis' compound. Six months later, Negan meets and marries a woman named Annie (Medina Senghore), and she gets pregnant with his child.

Initially he is overjoyed to find the bat, but after breaking it by putting down a walker, he evaluates how he treated his wife.episodes are left between now and the very end of the show, and with an array of intriguing plot points to cover – how long can Maggie resist the urge to get revenge on Negan for Glenn? He goes back to Leah’s cabin and apologizes to his late wife, especially naming a baseball bat after her.

Lucille appears in the archival footage shown at the beginning of " Lockdown", " Variant" and " Faith" as Judith narrates past events of the show to the audience before the episode's story begins. Outside the bar, a noticeably changed Negan clubs one of the bikers to death with Lucille and shoots another. They eventually win the war and he later admits he was wrong about his decisions and leaves to fend for himself. Within the structure of the Saviors, Negan has a right-hand man named Simon as well as several lieutenants, including Wade, Bud, Gavin, Arat and Dwight.He lets his guard down as Gabriel grabs his gun before locking himself in the trailer's second room. Negan responds by taunting Gabriel about his new relationship with Rosita, but Gabriel reveals that Rosita is at the Hilltop, hurt, and he cannot go to her because he has to look after Negan. Negan begs to be released and claims Rick is a monster who locked him up and tortured him for speaking out against him. Negan warns the group not to say anything or to move, and he begins to beat the unseen individual to death, as everyone else in the group screams.

Michonne tells him they do not have it anymore, and leaves smiling as he bashes his head against the wall in anguish. The two agree to a deal where Maggie will allow Negan's young companion Ginny to live at the Hilltop in exchange for his help. After the ritual, Negan dismisses his congregation before turning to Carl, who hands back "Lucille", and Negan leads him away, contemplating what to do with him.He is happily married to his wife, Lucille, but nonetheless has a mistress on the side who doesn't know he is married. Negan saw something in the Croat and what he could become, and he allowed the Croat to have a crack at it. He is highly protective of Lucille, and gets greatly upset if anyone dares touch her or tries to damage her.