Judith was the ONE thing Rick had on Negan.
There’s something unnerving about seeing children in danger.
Even the strongest of stomachs will turn sour at the thought of harm coming to a child. That’s what made the conclusion of the “Sing Me a Song” episode of The Walking Dead so unsettling. We know what Negan is capable of — we’ve seen firsthand the brutal lengths he’ll go to.
So to see Negan holding Rick’s baby daughter, Judith, was deeply frightening.
One Last Secret
Image Credit: AMC
“It’s a very surreal scene,” says Chandler Riggs, who plays Carl. “Seeing Negan making baby voices to Judith and talking about killing her older brother and dad is really creepy and unnerving.
For Rick, the minute he sees that Negan knows about Judith, he’s going to be terrified because that is the one thing he has been trying to protect from Negan. That was the one thing that Rick had on Negan. Negan didn’t know about Judith.”
The discomfort we all feel when seeing children in peril is likely the reason Judith is still alive in the first place. In the pages of The Walking Dead comic book, Rick and Lori’s baby girl is killed along with her mother, not long after her birth. Showing that death onscreen would’ve proved highly controversial, so producers elected to let Judith live — so far.
In some ways, it may actually have been better for Judith to die as an infant. If producers choose to kill her now, the controversy will heighten.
For that reason alone, it’s incredibly likely that Judith will continue to live.
Sing Me A Song
Negan’s suburban moment with Judith wasn’t the only surreal scene in the disturbing episode. Earlier in the story, Negan famously forced Carl to sing after removing his eye bandage.
“It was mortifying when I found out I was going to have to sing,” says Riggs. “Everyone is really respectful and tries to keep the set quiet during those emotional scenes. But it was really surreal singing “You Are My Sunshine”, while Jeffrey pretends to bash someone’s head in behind me. It was really weird.”
Carl and Judith’s father, Rick, was absent for all of Negan’s shenanigans throughout the entire episode. When he returns to Alexandria in the mid-season finale, he’s sure to react in an interesting way to what’s happened with his children. Little Judith, in particular.
What do you think Rick will do in retaliation for Negan holding his children hostage?
