How Does Hilarie Burton Morgan Return to The Walking Dead: Dead City? Lucille’s Appearance, Explained

"Lucille" is a name any Walking Dead fan is familiar with. They may know her from Negan's infamous bat that murdered Glenn, Abraham and countless other victims on the flagship series. Or they may know her as the character from the standalone backstory episode, "Here's Negan," which pulls inspiration from the comic book issue of the same name. Recently, she returned to The Walking Dead franchise as a hallucination to Negan on Dead City, giving him the push he needs to not give up on Ginny.

For the longest time on The Walking Dead, Lucille was only an idea. She was a symbol of oppression, often used by Negan as a threat to Rick's group or other communities to stay in line or face Lucille's metaphorical fury. No one knew who Lucille was, or even if she was a person ever to begin with, and it was simply just Negan's twisted imagination. It wasn't until Season 8 that The Walking Dead painted a different picture of Lucille, when Negan reveals she was his one true wife (as opposed to the many "wives" he took at the Sanctuary). From that point on, Lucille wasn't the source of Negan's corruption. She was his tragedy.

Negan and Lucille’s Backstory, Explained

Lucille's Death Brought Out the Monster Inside Negan

Hilarie Burton Morgan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan's real-life wife) portrays Lucille in "Here's Negan," depicting the events of Negan's life before he was the bat-swinging tyrannical leader The Walking Dead fans know him as. Negan and Lucille lived in Alexandria, Virginia, not to be confused with the community of the same name. While Negan showed violent and unhinged behavior even before the apocalypse, Lucille loved him and defended him when he nearly beat a man to death who was rude to Lucille.

Lucille discovered Negan was having an affair with her best friend, just as she was diagnosed with cancer. But Negan broke off the affair, stepped up to help Lucille and administer chemotherapy treatments when the outbreak hit. There were no doctors around to help Lucille, so Negan had to learn how to do everything himself. When the last chemo treatment went bad, Negan spent weeks looking for more, eventually coming across a woman who would soon be one of his followers at the Sanctuary. However, Lucille took her own life instead, believing it would spare Negan from the responsibilities of caring for her. After setting her and their house on fire during the heartbreaking discovery, Negan named his new baseball bat "Lucille."

Lucille’s Memory Is What Sparks the Best and Worst of Negan

Even In Spirit, Lucille Is Negan's Guide in Life

Negan's late wife would serve as his motivation to survive this world, regardless of his own yearning to die and be with her. But her memory also fuels his guilt. He's never forgiven himself for cheating on her, forcing her to be the breadwinner of the house, and leaving her to pick up his mess. Negan reflects on his imperfections as a husband to her in "Novi Dan, Novi Početak," admirably looking back on her strength and forgiveness of him, even though he admits he doesn't deserve it.

Negan later hits his head to find medical supplies for Ginny, having a brief idea of what to get thanks to his time caring for Lucille. He reunites with a hallucination of his late wife, whom he remembers in her purple wig she wore during her cancer treatment. The fact that he remembers her during her lowest moments shows his undying love for her -- that their marriage truly was in sickness and in health. He tearfully apologizes for being a bad husband, but this version of her assures him he made up for his mistakes by clothing her, feeding her and taking care of her during her final days.

The irony is that Negan remembering Lucille in this way is the reason he goes through immense effort to save Ginny, but embraces the worst part of himself. He doesn't want to lose Ginny the way he lost Lucille, and puts his heart on his sleeve to allow his vulnerability to motivate him. But the other way he's going to protect her is by visiting the Sanctuary days, in which Negan would line his victims up and kill them all to keep his people safe. The dichotomy of Negan switching between being the good guy and the bad guy is such a scrumptious part of Negan's complexity as an anti-hero, and Lucille continues to make him one of the most interesting characters this franchise has ever seen.