Is Jeffrey Dean Morgan, aka Negan on “The Walking Dead” and its spinoff series “The Walking Dead: Dead City,” ready to hang up his weathered leather biker jacket and take his rightful place in Worcester?
Thursday, actors, extras and film crews are expected to return to the city to film scenes from season two of “The Walking Dead: Dead City” and they’re doing it at 21 Cedar St. at the historic home of Paul B. Morgan.
A graduate of Worcester Academy and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Paul B. Morgan, who died in 1952, succeeded his father as president of Morgan Construction Co. and was president of Heald Machine Co.
No word if Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a distant relative of Paul B. Morgan or if Paul B. Morgan ever swung a barbed wire-covered bat, which is “The Walking Dead” star’s preferred weapon of choice.
During filming, Worcester streets including Norwich, Main and Portland have been transformed into abandoned roadways in a post-zombie apocalypse Manhattan.
Last month, Worcester made big news all on social media because Negan had zombie batting practice with “Lucille,” his trusty, barbed-wire-covered Louisville Slugger, on Norwich Street and later Main Street.
“Lucille,” as well as Negan, were both introduced in the sixth-season finale of “The Walking Dead” but “Lucille” was absent in season one of “The Walking Dead: Dead City” and no word of the bat’s return until it was spotted in action, last month, on the streets of Worcester.
Barbed wire, by the way, was also manufactured in Worcester, and being that Jeffrey Dean Morgan has done more for the prickly steel fencing enhancer in the last 10 years than anybody else, maybe the veteran character actor is a rightful heir of the barbed wire fortune and doesn’t even know it.
And while filming for “The Walking Dead: Dead City” continues in Worcester Thursday, we don’t know if Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Lauren Cohan (Maggie Greene Rhee), Željko Ivanek (The Croat), Lisa Emery (The Dama) or Kim Coates (who filmed his first scene as season two super-baddie “Bruegal” May 8 in a close set at Union Station) will be in Worcester for the filming. But it’s a safe bet that some, if not all, of the key players will be there.
And, who knows, a herd of zombie extras in various stages of decade walking around the historic Oak Street neighborhood might be spotted.
As for post zombie apocalypse stargazers, filming will comprise of interior scenes at the Morgan Mansion between the approximate hours of 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
While all the planned shooting is inside, Jeffrey Dean Morgan did pose for selfies with fans during breaks from filming at Norwich and Mechanic streets May 6 and outside Union Station May 8.
And, although she hasn’t mingled with fans to our knowledge, crowd-favorite Cohan has sported a warm smile and a friendly wave to onlookers during several instances.
