‘FearTWD’ begins to address Negan’s problematic past on ‘The Walking Dead.’ Star Christine Evangelista speaks about her character’s PTSD.

• Warning: There are massive spoilers ahead for “Fear the Walking Dead,” season six, episode five, “Honey.”
• Sunday’s “FearTWD” surprisingly and subtly revisited part of Negan’s unexplored problematic past on “TWD.”
• Sunday’s “FearTWD” showed that one of Negan’s victims, Sherry, is suffering from PTSD because of her experience as one of Negan’s many “wives.”
• Christine Evangelista told Insider that Negan’s concept of consent in the zombie apocalypse is “bizarre.”
• “Having a harem women around all the time made him feel bigger and stronger than he was,” Evangelista said.
• When Insider asked Evangelista how Sherry would feel knowing that Negan is on a path to redemption on “TWD,” she said, “It’s kind of jarring in a way to see your abuser really just out kind of getting a second chance.”
• She said Sherry could forgive Negan one day. Society likes giving people second chances.
• Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Sunday’s “Fear TWD” started to go to a place we never expected the show universe to revisit. 

It started to address Negan’s problematic past on “The Walking Dead” through the eyes of one of his victims, Sherry (Christine Evangelista). For those who may not recall, Sherry was one of Negan’s many wives on “TWD” when he was a leader of the Saviors.

Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) blackmailed women into relationships with him during the zombie apocalypse in exchange for their safety and the safety of their families or former husbands. That’s what happened to Dwight and Sherry. Negan provided his “wives” with shelter, food, medicine, and other luxuries. In return, he asked his harem to be loyal to him and to sleep with him whenever he wanted. (You can read more on Negan’s warped definition of rape in the zombie apocalypse here.)

Sherry escaped from her abuser on season seven of “TWD” in 2017 and wasn’t seen again until an emotional reunion on “FearTWD” this season. On Sunday’s episode, Sherry subtly revealed that she’s still traumatized and working through what happened to her because she never received any closure from her harrowing experience. Remember, Sherry wasn’t around to see the downfall of Negan’s empire and to see him jailed on “TWD.” For her, Negan and his group were still very real in her mind until she caught up with Dwight.

Late in the episode, as Dwight tries to stop Sherry from taking out a group of Ginny’s men, she tells him, “Somebody has to do something. We can’t just let him keep doing…” 

Dwight cuts her off, asking who she means by "him." 

Viewers may have been a little confused watching this moment, but Sherry later confirms to Dwight that she was referencing Negan. Sherry has focused her energy from her past trauma on stopping someone else (Ginny) who she sees to be another dangerous leader like Negan.

"When you don't have that closure and you're carrying around the pain and you're carrying around the blame, that stuff gets heavier and heavier," Evangelista told Insider when we spoke with her ahead of Sherry's return to "Fear TWD" earlier this season. 

"I think if she knew that everything has turned around and maybe she might've had something to do with [the fall of Negan's group], I think it would really lighten her load and sort of help her psychologically," Evangelista added. "There's some serious PTSD there, fighting a war that you don't know you've won. That's hard."

By the episode's end, Sherry pushes Dwight away as she has a lot to work out.

Before we realized how much "FearTWD" would revisit Sherry's past trauma, Insider asked Evangelista her thoughts on Negan's controversial storyline from 2017 and how her character would feel knowing Negan has had a redemption arc on "TWD" after forcing women to marry him to feel safe in the apocalypse. We were surprised to learn she thinks Sherry could one day forgive Negan.

How Evangelista read Negan's definition of rape in the zombie apocalypse: Negan was too ego-driven to realize he was doing the very thing he said he was against.

On the show, and in the comics, Negan is against what he defines as rape. When he ruled the Saviors, he told his subordinates they have a "no rape" policy. He held true to his word when he killed one of his men for going after Sasha.

One of the things viewers may have struggled to grapple with, then, is how Negan could have that policy and then blackmail women into relationships with him. Women were asked to either be part of his polygamist cult of "wives" — which in reality was more akin to becoming a sex slave — or to take their chances on their own in the zombie apocalypse with their families without the protection of his group. 

This detail was made even more troubling when viewers were forced to consider that Negan didn't realize (or want to realize) that he himself was raping women in the apocalypse.

"That's the point. Of course he doesn't [realize that's what he's doing], he's not objective. He just, he wants it all for himself, totally ego driven," Evangelista told Insider when discussing that Negan was doing the very thing that he admonised his inferiors for.

When asked her feelings on Negan's concept of consent, Evangelista said, "It's definitely... it's bizarre. But that's who this guy is — he's an evil, maniacal man who had been given enormous amounts of power and has been able to use it any way that he wants."

"Having a harem women around all the time made him feel bigger and stronger than he was," Evangelista continued. "We've seen that throughout history, right? This isn't like a new thing and I think Jeffrey Dean Morgan did a pretty good job of playing this evil tyrant that is somehow likable. That's skill to be able to do that. He really did that well."

Why we thought "TWD" universe would never revisit this storyline: Negan almost killed the flagship show. 

Negan's definition of rape was never outright addressed on "TWD."  Eugene once merely questioned the fact that Negan had multiple "wives," but never made a stink about it. Negan bragged about it to Rick's son Carl when he broke into Negan's hideout, but the teen never told his father or anyone else that they may want to save a group of women from being held hostage by a madman.

Negan's harem existed as one of the horrors of his rule, but it was never front and center. You never saw Negan bed any of these women, but you knew he did. Sherry was once seen visiting a doctor to discretely take a pregnancy test. 

At some point, it seemed like the show really wanted to sweep Negan's wives and over-the-top personality under the rug for a bit. During seasons seven and eight, "TWD" became too much of the Negan show, instead of one centered around its protagonist, Rick Grimes. A lot of fans didn't like that, especially after Negan's entrance onto the show brutally killed two fan favorites in, what viewers came to call, torture porn. That moment and a continued focus on Negan started hurting the show's ratings through season eight. 

When Angela Kang took over as showrunner on season nine, we started to see a lot less of Negan. He sat in a cell for the first half of the season and only started to re-emerge after a massive time jump six years into the future. It was as if the show knew it needed a breather and stuck him in timeout as the show course corrected itself into a true ensemble series led by its heroes again.

It was a large problem for the show since Negan, although starting out as a villain, goes on to eventually become a fan-favorite and a rather beloved character in the comics. The show appeared to be struggling to get TV fans to feel similarly for a time. Though his bloody murder of Glenn and Abraham drew most of the ire from fans, his controversial group of wives certainly didn't help.

Whenever Insider tried discussing the show's handling of Negan's harem or whether or not the character deserved redemption with executive producers or showrunner Angela Kang, though they responded, it seemed to be an increasingly sore subject or frustrating one at times to discuss over the years. 

Still, there seems to be an awareness and acknowledgment of where the show failed with Negan early on in an effort to repair and redeem the character. 

Since February 2019, Negan has undergone a massive revamp on "TWD." Not only has he saved Rick's daughter, Judith, during a snowstorm, but he also killed the leader of the most recent group of villains. Many fans weren't completely on board with Negan's redemption arc at first. Some still aren't and believe he should still be killed off the series.

How Sherry would feel knowing that Negan has more or less been redeemed on 'The Walking Dead."

"It's kind of jarring in a way to see your abuser really just out kind of getting a second chance," Evangelista said of Negan's slow reintegration back into the group on the flagship show.

"If she really understood why, it could maybe help her," Evangelista said, considering it a bit more. "It would be important for her to know that and I think she would, and she could, and she certainly has the capacity to understand and forgive. I think that she desperately wants to. She doesn't want to be this version of herself, that she's living in right now."

It seems like 'TWD' is finally ready to confront all of its past transgressions with Negan, ugly warts and all. 

If the show is going to continue its redemption arc for Negan, you need to address everything from the character's past, not just sweep the uncomfortable moments under the rug. Otherwise, the show should have never adapted Negan's harem from the comics if they didn't want to address it head-on.

It looks like "TWD" is already gearing up to address more of Negan's ghosts. We now know we're getting a flashback episode next year with Morgan's real-life wife, Hilarie Burton, playing Negan's fictional wife, Lucille. 

Now that Lauren Cohan has returned as Maggie, we're expecting a massive confrontation between the two again. (As a reminder, Negan brutally killed Maggie's husband during his entrance onto "TWD" on season seven.) The show has already revisited and referenced mistakes it made with Negan from the season seven premiere on seasons nine and 10.

"As a society, people like a second chance a lot of the time," Evangelista said, looking at the bigger picture of what Negan's redemption arc says for those who are watching and are trying to comprehend how they should feel about a character who has delivered so much pain, but who has started to make some amends.

"People want to be able to forgive and they want to be able to [know] somebody can change their ways and can become enlightened, or whatever you want to call it," Evangelista continued. "You don't have to be evil forever. You can can change. That's something that maybe we need to preach more with people, but, it's hard. It's definitely a hard thing to do." 

Evangelista added that "seeing this person that victimized you, getting a new lease on life, it's very complicated."

It's not clear how far the show will go in actually addressing Sherry's PTSD and Negan's controversial "wives," but it's something a lot of fans have probably waited a long time to see discussed more. In addition to helping Sherry move forward, it likely gives viewers some closure on a troubling storyline, especially as we're preparing for more of Negan on "TWD" season 10's bonus episodes.

You can follow along with our "Walking Dead" coverage here.