The Walking Dead brings on Jeffrey Dean Morgan for major villain role

The Walking Dead has found its next villain in the form of Supernatural and Watchmen star Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Morgan was cast after AMC spent months of searching for the perfect actor to take on Negan — the foul-mouthed, violent leader of the vicious Saviors group — and will be introduced to audiences during the sixth season's finale.

Negan first appeared in the 100th issue of Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead comic book franchise and almost immediately became a fan favorite. His sadistic, manipulative actions on top of his desire to invade almost every neighboring community he comes across (including Alexandria) made the series' early villain, The Governor (played by David Morissey in the television show) seem tame in comparison.

The really interesting aspect of including Negan in the series at the end of the finale comes with a bit of a spoiler warning, so be warned readers; there will be spoilers from this point forward.

In the original comic book, Negan is the person who brutally kills Glenn with a baseball bat in the 145th issue. The show recently "killed" Glenn (Steven Yeun) during a zombie attack, but this new bit of information may prove that Glenn is still alive and kicking. At least for a little while longer.

Though Negan's introduction isn't a surprise — it was hinted at in an earlier trailer — given recent events on the show it's obvious showrunner Scott Gimple has some tricks up his sleeve as it concerns finally bringing Morgan into the story.

Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Gimple admitted that Negan's story arc was one of the more "exciting" ones that he was looking forward to bringing to the screen, but admitted it would be a little different than Kirkman's narrative surrounding the character.

The Walking Dead is currently in its sixth season and airs on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.