We’ve been waiting to hear who would be cast as Negan for The Walking Dead for some time now. The popular choice was Jon Hamm (Mad Men), who seemed interested in the role. Today, we get an official announcement that it will instead be Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The Comedian himself!

I couldn’t be happier with the choice. I would have loved Hamm as well, but Morgan has proven himself in the comic realm with his roles in The Watchmen and The Losers. He also has done great jobs on Grey’s Anatomy and the dad on Supernatural.

Negan will make his undoubtedly bloody first appearance in the season 6 finale of the show. The episode will be directed by producer/SFX wizard Greg Nicotero. If you’ve read the comics, then you know that Negan makes the Governor look like Barney the Dinosaur; so this is going to be really interesting how they handle Season 7.