Long before Jeffrey Dean Morgan picked up the bat as The Walking Dead’s Negan, we knew AMC would reign in the foul-mouthed character’s language, occasionally allowing for alternate takes. Now, Morgan himself reveals that Season 7 makes regular use of “F-takes” to accommodate the character’s more colorful swears, but will we ever see them?

Morgan spoke to Entertainment Weekly of his time spent swearing on set, describing his profanity as “limitless,” both on-camera and off. That said, where shooting scripts for AMC’s TV standards naturally tone down the language to acceptable standards, the actor reveals that alternate takes are often done to elicit stronger reactions from co-stars:

Now, what we do with Negan is we have to film a TV version. I still am allowed a couple swear words, I can drop them in there here and there, and then we do what we call the - I can’t even say it - the “F-take,” where I just let loose, and I let loose a lot when I am off-camera, like if I’m working with other actors for their coverage. When the camera’s on them, I will just let words fly … and some are scripted, and some are just in character.

It would seem odd of The Walking Dead to shoot differing takes of every Negan scene, if only to release the alternate versions on home video, so it might make more sense if Negan’s profanity serves more as a tool to inform the other actors’ performances, than something to edit together later.

We’ll find out exactly how colorful Negan’s language gets when Season 7 premieres on October 23, but can The Walking Dead live up to the comic version of the character?

 

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