Negan and The Saviors turned The Walking Dead series on its head with their evil presence. While their leader has had his character transformed since, we now know not all cult members had such redeeming qualities.
The Saviors were a few hundred people strong, hanging out at their main headquarters, The Sanctuary. Sanctuary by name but definitely not by nature, if we think back to Dr. Carson getting a brutal public execution – thrown into a furnace in front of everybody, back in Season 7. It was a brutal place, run with an iron fist.
One of the group members was called Savior Jared, who probably also went by the name of Negan from time to time. This was a distraction tactic so that people outside of the group thought they had killed the leader, only to find out they were all in on the act.
Jared was a nuisance, no doubt about it. He shot Benjamin and was unrelentingly brutal with his actions, taking things a step too far more than once.
No hope for some Saviors in The Walking Dead
His actor, Joshua Mikel, was convinced that later down the road there would be some sort of enlightenment to come. There had to be goodness inside him, he thought.
The star thought about this so much that he took it up with the then-showrunner Scott Gimple, asking if any sort of redeeming qualities would be in the works. However, he was met with a blunt response that tells us a lot about the character individually, but also the wider group Negan had assembled.
During a Walking Dead Q&A, part of the Scares That Care 2020 Virtual Convention, he said: “”I wrote him an email at one point being like, ‘Hey man, are there any redeeming qualities about Jared? Is there anything that I should know? Maybe at some point he’ll join Hilltop and make his way in, should I leave any kind of question of that?'” Mikel said.
“And he was like, ‘No, man, he’s an a—hole through and through.'”
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
(Video below starts at 0:45)
Even if Jared did have a good inside him, there wouldn’t be much time to show it as the character was killed off by Morgan. A scene of retribution, after he shot his protege earlier in the season.
Should any more Saviors reappear at any stage in the show, this message from the former showrunner isn’t really encouraging. Clearly, not all of them could do a 180 like Negan. It’s just not in their makeup.
Now, all eyes turn towards the finale of Season 10 this October. It has now been confirmed by AMC that the show will be starting up filming again for Season 11 during the same month too, so watch this space.
