The Walking Dead franchise has introduced Negan’s replacement as the leader of the Sanctuary, and he’s a massive disappointment who only serves to highlight what made Negan such a great villain. In Fear the Walking Dead season 8, episode 9, “Sanctuary,” Dwight returns to Negan’s old fortress, the Sanctuary, where a group of bandits have been hiding out. The episode introduced the guy who took over the Sanctuary as essentially the new Negan, but he’s nowhere near as intimidating as Negan was in his prime.
Ever since Negan turned into an antihero and got his own show, The Walking Dead franchise has struggled to introduce a villain as exciting or earth-shattering as Negan was. It’s like the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s attempts to replace Thanos. Negan was the big bad that The Walking Dead’s flagship series spent years building up to. Now that his arc has come and gone, the franchise needs a new big bad, but the replacement suggested by Fear the Walking Dead is hugely underwhelming.
The Sanctuary’s New Villain Leader Is Useless Compared To Negan
Dwight first returns to the Sanctuary when he meets a survivor named Jay whose insulin was stolen by the bandits living there. Within moments, Dwight managed to sneak into the Sanctuary, kill one of the bandits in a furnace, and retrieve the insulin. That would never have been able to happen when Negan was running things. Anyone who tried to sneak into the Sanctuary would be dead before they even reached the gates. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they let Dwight sneak in yet again to help Dove.
Dove was trying to flee because she had no faith in the Sanctuary’s current leadership, and after seeing his many mistakes, it’s hard to believe that anyone has faith in that leader. After letting Dwight stroll into the Sanctuary undetected (twice), he tried to shoot a teenage girl, which just showed that he has a penchant for punching down, and then got taken out by a walker. There’s nothing menacing at all about this new Walking Dead baddie.
Walking Dead’s Sanctuary Return Cements Negan As TWD’s Definitive Villain
The fact that Negan’s replacement as the leader of the Sanctuary was introduced and unceremoniously killed off within the same episode just goes to show that Negan is the definitive villain of The Walking Dead franchise. The new Sanctuary leader’s most prevalent show of power was trying to shoot a teenage girl. This showed not only that he’s not as powerful or intimidating as Negan, but that he also lacks the twisted moral code that made Negan such a complex character.
