After the series finale of The Walking Dead, many fans were left wondering how Maggie and Negan’s stories would merge together for Dead City. Negan left our group to head off with his pregnant wife Annie to start their family elsewhere while Maggie continued as the leader of the Hilltop. When they reunited in Dead City, Maggie asked the exact question that fans wanted to know: What happened to Negan’s wife Annie and their child? Negan finally decided to answer her inquiry in episode three and yes, it involves heartbreaking violence.
Negan tells Maggie that he lived in a cabin outside of New Babylon with Annie and Joshua, his son. (This further confirms that Dead City is more than 12 years into the apocalypse.) Annie went into town to do trading one day and didn’t return by nightfall. Negan knew something was amiss, so he went out to look for her. He found Annie and she’d been robbed and badly beaten. Despite Annie pleading with him to let it go, Negan found the five men at a drinking hole and killed all of them.
Afterward, his family went on the run and the transient lifestyle was hard on Annie. Negan put Annie and Joshua on a wagon train to Missouri, telling him that he would be right behind them. Instead, he stayed behind and hopes that they are okay. Of course, Maggie doesn’t have a ton of sympathy for him and, to be honest, it is hard to.
Negan is likely leaving out some details about this situation that we may learn later in Dead City. But, based on what we know, his choice to stay behind makes no sense. He has no reason to want to stay in the area, especially considering that he’s a wanted man. We know that he’s running from the New Babylon authorities for those murders. But their reach/jurisdiction doesn’t extend out to Missouri as far as we know. Negan and his family would have been safe to start a new life that’s far removed from the East Coast. Why would Negan let his family go without him? Does he have the first clue where they are in Missouri? Why would they go to Missouri? And will he eventually look for them?
Now that we know what happened to Negan’s wife Annie and their son, it all seems a little too convenient. There’s no other solid rationale behind this decision except to push them out of the picture so he could go on this dummy mission with Maggie. His situation also explains why he’s being such a fatherly figure to Ginny. He’s missing out on Joshua’s life and may never see him again. Annie and Joshua probably won’t reunite with Negan in Dead City but, assuming they are still alive, maybe Negan’s story will eventually end with him heading to Missouri. That is, if he survives his impending encounter with the Croat.