"The Walking Dead" season 7 will have Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) front and center now that the character has been introduced. He will be featured so prominently that Greg Nicotero, who handles the special effects and also directs a few episodes, claims in a report from Deadline that Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) will be sharing the spotlight with Negan.

Nicotero, who also served as showrunner in the past, explains that in the comic books, Negan steals some of the attention from Rick and for a long while they are both focal points in the comics. It is further hinted that this is the same direction season 7 is going for.

Afterwards, Nicotero went on to explain just how brutal and violent the season 7 premiere is going to be.

"You know, after directing the premiere episode, I was [expletive] up for two weeks, you know? I really felt like I dragged a lot of my dearest friends into these really deep, dark places shooting that episode, and it's been definitely an experience unlike anything that I've ever handled before," he explained.

Fans of the series will recall that the season 6 finale ended with a cliffhanger. Negan started bashing one of Rick's companions with his baseball bat but the camera cut to black before the identity of Negan's victim could be revealed. The season 7 premiere will focus on this moment and showcase in all its macabre who Negan killed.

As reported by Screen Rant, AMC has begun playing on this very fact as the network released several teaser trailers for season 7. Each video asks who will meet Lucille, the pet name Negan had given his baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. It was previously reported that Maggie (Lauren Cohan) was the most likely candidate to be killed off.

"The Walking Dead" season 7 will premiere this Oct. 23.