Weaponized Trauma: How The Walking Dead: Dead City Uses Hershel to Reignite the Maggie-Negan Conflict

Given their traumatic past, Maggie teaming up with Negan on The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1 sparked much debate, and understandably so.

We spent much of the season questioning her motives for teaming up with the man who brutally took the love of her life from her, all to find her missing son.

But as we later learned, Maggie never intended to keep Negan around. The plan all along was to hand him over in exchange for Hershel’s safety.

That twist packed even more of an emotional punch because by then, Maggie and Negan had reached an uneasy understanding in The Walking Dead, Season 11, Episode 24.

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They’d never be friends — how could she, after everything he took from her? — But there was a sliver of peace.

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A shared acknowledgment of pain, maybe even regret. And for a moment, it felt like both could finally move forward.

But The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 has kept them apart, perhaps to prove that the show doesn’t need them side by side to stay compelling.

Still, I doubt the writers will ever stray far from the core truth of their dynamic: Maggie will never truly forgive Negan.

And honestly, I’m starting to think the show is struggling to find fresh, believable ways to keep these two connected.

Enter Hershel.

My best guess? We’re about to see his villainous streak emerge — not as a wild twist, but as a deliberate narrative tool. It may be the only way for Maggie to understand Negan on a level she never anticipated.

Look at where we are in the season. We’re nearing the midway point, and the writers are working hard to keep Maggie and Negan separated.

But their reunion is inevitable. And when it comes, it’ll be shaped not by their shared past, but by what Hershel has become.

Negan’s Savior Complex For Hershel Is a Major Issue

Negan recently showed up just in time to save Hershel from the Croat’s henchman in Central Park.

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But his presence sent the kid into a tailspin. Pulling a gun on Negan wasn’t just a gutsy move — it was a clear sign that Hershel is carrying more than just resentment.

Negan didn’t just take his father — he also took years of his mother’s life. Maggie spent ages consumed by vengeance, time that could’ve gone to being Hershel’s mom instead of Glenn’s widow.

In a heartbreaking way, it’s not just Negan Hershel resents. It’s Maggie, too.

And that’s what makes this next chapter so compelling. Hershel is growing up with an incredibly warped view of the world, shaped by loss, grief, and years of watching his mother suffer.

Now he’s caught between the monster who murdered his father and the mother who was never fully present after.

You can see how conflicted he is — torn between the Dama’s manipulation, Maggie’s long absence, and Negan’s confusing role as both killer and savior.

Dead City may be physically separating Maggie and Negan, but Hershel is the emotional bridge they can’t avoid.

And if the show wants to keep digging deep into trauma and redemption, that connection is where the real story lies.

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I’ve been questioning whether there’s much more story to tell in the tired The Walking Dead universe, but The Walking Dead: Dead City’s reliance on the characters and conflicts we know are proving to be the best foot forward.

What are your thoughts on the current dynamics between the show’s three most important characters?

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