The Walking Dead has officially cast its Lucille. The hit AMC zombie series will give fans some flashbacks of Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) life before the apocalypse, which will include his relationship with his wife, Lucille, who will be played by Morgan’s real-life spouse, Hilarie Burton.
The actress — who is best known for her role as Peyton Sawyer and the hit CW teen drama, One Tree Hill — will appear as a guest star in Season 10’s additional episodes. Burton will portray Lucille, who is said to have had a rocky relationship with her charismatic husband, Negan.
Comic Book confirmed the news on Tuesday, revealing that Burton and Morgan will share the screen together as husband and wife. Hardcore fans of the series may know that Lucille appears in The Walking Dead comics. In her story arc, Lucille is a woman who knows that her husband is cheating on her. However, Negan calls off his affair to spend as much time as possible with his wife when she is diagnosed with cancer.
Lucille passes away before the zombie crisis, but she never truly leaves Negan. He later becomes a supervillain in the new world order, and finds a baseball bat, which he covers in barbed wife to be his weapon of choice. He names the bat Lucille after his late wife.
After the news was confirmed, Burton took to her Twitter account to reveal her thoughts on being cast as Lucille opposite her real-life hubby.
“Been pretty hard to keep this a secret. But I love working with @JDMorgan . I love watching him become #Negan and take on that swagger. And I love the @TheWalkingDead family. They’ve been a part of our family for ages and I’m so grateful for their kindness. Xoxo #hereslucille,” she wrote.
The show is currently filming six additional episodes to be added onto Season 10. As of now, they are slated to air in the spring. The series will then start production on a 24-episode Season 11, which will air in 2021 and 2022. The show has announced that Season 11 will be its last.
Burton and Morgan began dating back in 2009 after they were introduced by their mutual friends Jensen Ackles, whom Morgan co-starred with on Supernatural, and his wife Danneel Harris, who acted alongside Burton on One Tree Hill. The welcomed two children together, a son in 2010 and a daughter in 2018 before tying the knot in 2019 with their kids, Harris, and Ackles all in attendance.
