Hilarie Burton To Join Husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan On ‘The Walking Dead’ As Negan’s Wife

Published on November 4, 2020.

Hilarie Burton will be joining her husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan on The Walking Dead!

Fans have waited for a long time to be introduced to the woman behind Negan’s infamous baseball bat and the time has finally come. Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s real-life wife actress Hilarie Burton will portray Negan’s wife Lucille in a guest-starring role for the newly added bonus episodes of season 10.

“Been pretty hard to keep this a secret,” the actress tweeted on Tuesday. “But I love working with @JDMorgan. I love watching him become #Negan and take on that swagger. And I love the @TheWalkingDead family. They’ve been a part of our family for ages and I’m so grateful for their kindness.”

In The Walking Dead comics by writer Robert Kirkman, Lucille suffered from cancer before the zombie viral outbreak. Negan had been having an affair, which Lucille knew about, but he eventually broke it off to spend more time with his wife in her final moments. Lucille passed just as the outbreak struck and, in the post-apocalyptic times, he named his iconic baseball bat after her.

Hilarie Burton will appear in one of the six new episodes AMC added to The Walking Dead season 10 which is set to continue into 2021. She’s best known for her role as Peyton Sawyer on One Tree Hill but has more recently appeared in Extant, Council of Dads, and Lethal Weapon.