Season 11 of The Walking Dead has featured the tumultuous relationship between Negan and Maggie and while some are hoping it becomes a romance, this move would ultimately be a terrible idea. Maggie and Negan's relationship has been one of the biggest focal points of The Walking Dead season 11. Since Maggie's return to Alexandria, things have been incredibly tense between her and Negan. Maggie has been gone from Alexandria for a few years at this point, taking her son Herschel to help the mysterious Georgie with her settlement. During that time, Maggie has seen some haunting things, and she returned more battle-hardened than ever before. After all this time, she still hasn't forgiven Negan for his past actions — despite choosing him to come along on a trip to Washington D.C. in a search for resources, she makes sure Negan knows it's because he's useful for his knowledge on the layout of D.C., not because she trusts him.
Where they currently stand, the lack of trust goes both ways; Negan knows that he's done Maggie wrong, and believes she would take the first opportunity she could to see him dead. This lack of trust has caused a strong tension between them on their trip. Believing that Maggie was out to kill him, Negan left her for dead first, leaving her to fend for herself as a wave of walkers filled the subway tunnel. After an attack by the Reapers, the duo was forced to team up to stay alive — however, the teamwork did little to soothe the sour blood between them.
It seems it's going to take more than saving each other's lives to get these two to get along, if they ever do. It's exactly why them developing a romantic relationship would harm the show. On top of the pair's violent past–and present–it's a storyline wouldn't do justice to the growth both Maggie and Negan have gone through in the last few seasons.
Negan's Past With Maggie On The Walking Dead
Since Negan's introduction in season 6, he and Maggie have had a violent relationship. As the leader of the Saviors, Negan was ruthless, doing whatever he deemed necessary for him and his people to survive. The Saviors had multiple groups underneath them controlled by the threat of violence and supplying them with necessities like food and weapons. When Rick and the rest of the survivors break Negan's rules by killing some of his men, Negan makes his first appearance of the series to dole out the punishment himself. In one of the most brutal episodes in The Walking Dead's history, Negan slaughtered Glenn (Steven Yuen) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) in a horrifying game of Eenie Meenie Miney Mo.
From that moment, Maggie swore vengeance against Negan for senselessly murdering her husband, Glenn. Maggie and Glenn were hopelessly in love and ferociously devoted to each other. The pair were married during the apocalypse with a ring Glenn took off of a walker's hand and the couple was expecting their first child. Negan not only took Glenn away from Maggie, he gruesomely beat Glenn to death in front of her while she was helpless to stop it. After the loss of her husband and countless others in their group, Maggie desperately sought revenge against Negan for his actions. Since Negan's capture, Maggie has struggled to actually pull the trigger against him — every time she tries, she falters. When she arrived in Alexandria to kill him in season 10, she saw the sad creature he'd become in the cell and decided that suffering through his fall from grace was worse than death for the prideful man. The only thing that seems to be holding Maggie back is her fear of sinking to Negan's level; if Maggie kills Negan, is she really any better than him?
The Negan/Maggie Romance Fan Theory
Some have interpreted the pair's tension differently. There is a growing fan theory that Negan and Maggie are forming a romantic relationship. During their fight in season 11 episode 5, "Out of the Ashes," some viewers took their looks of conflicted hatred for sexual tension. Currently, their relationship is boiling down to whether they'll finally kill each other. However, a number of people believe the tension will be solved with romance instead of killing, intrigued by the taboo of two enemies unexpectedly getting together. While it seems unlikely the two will ever become good friends, it wouldn't be the first time sworn enemies hooked up. Unlikely romances have popped up throughout the history of The Walking Dead, even crossing enemy lines; Daryl is currently struggling with his rocky dynamic with Leah, who has now joined the Reapers, and Eugene has gone through the Walking Dead Commonwealth's rigorous entry process for Stephanie. It's not impossible that The Walking Dead is leading Maggie and Negan toward a romance — the controversy could certainly drum up viewership in the final season — but at the moment, there are little more than passing glances to hint at the possibility.
Why A Negan/Maggie Romance Would Be A Terrible Idea
Maggie and Negan's past is one of the greatest reasons that a romance between the two would be a terrible idea. Despite how he may change for the better or find redemption, Negan can never take back murdering the love of Maggie's life. Maggie still grapples with whether she believes Negan deserves to live or die, so them rushing into a romantic relationship would make little sense. Even if she could come to forgive Negan for his actions, Maggie isn't the type to forget what he's done. Maggie is still heavily grieving the loss of her husband and the father of her child, and Negan has just begun to actually process his own wife's death. Neither of them is in a position to start a romance, let alone with each other. Upon her return in The Walking Dead season 11, Maggie's hardened personality has made her more like Negan than she would like to admit; if the two of them were to be in a relationship, it wouldn't end well.
Maggie still believes that Negan deserves some type of punishment for the crimes he's committed, whether death or rotting in a cell, and she certainly doesn't trust him. It wouldn't align with her character to make a 180-degree turn and decide she loves Negan instead. The tension between the pair isn't romantic or sexual — they're just two people prepared to strike before the other gets the chance. The two of them have been taking shots at each other since their search for resources began, and neither would mourn if the other were to die. At the moment, The Walking Dead could go in any direction with Maggie and Negan's relationship, but a romantic relationship between the two would be a disservice to their characters and the history between them.