What happened to Negan and Lydia’s Father-Daughter relationship?

Truth be told, this issue has been bugging me all throughout season 11. Negan has finally become a father figure for Lydia, and the show drops any father-daughter relationship that was structurally sound, out of nowhere.

What happened? I’m sure many will argue that The Walking Dead has been on the air for too long.

My argument is that either the series needed one more season to flesh out the important stuff or season 11 should have cut The Reapers subplot entirely. The Reapers went on for far too long and really didn’t accomplish anything other than killing off Alden, endlessly rehashing Maggie’s hatred for Negan, and needing a more thorough backstory for Leah.

They didn’t need to do Leah dirty like that. Nor Alden for that matter.

What is the status of Negan and Lydia’s father-daughter relationship on The Walking Dead?

Regardless, the fact that season 11 is the last of the AMC series means everything becomes rushed, which also means side plots will be cut entirely. In my opinion, the show needed to have more Negan and Maggie interactions so that their upcoming spinoff The Walking Dead: Dead City would make sense.

However, their complicated, relationship, if you want to call it that, severed any real relationship building Negan had with Lydia. The show either really had no direction for Lydia or her story changed hands in the writer’s room.

One moment Daryl is going to be her father figure, as he literally did everything possible to keep her safe from her mother Alpha, as well as essentially allow her relationship with Henry to blossom. Then Henry, along with several others are killed, people at Alexandria hate Lydia for her mother and The Whisperers, and behold she connects with the only other person just as hated as she is: Negan.

Both are considered outcasts with so much more to give than others allow to see. In the beginning, Daryl did step in when he noticed Lydia bonding with Negan however it all but vanishes once Negan is freed, (after he accidentally killed one of several who were about to kill Lydia) and The Whisperer War comes into play.

As much as Lydia has both mother and father issues, the show focused more on her needing a father figure. Negan became a natural father figure for her, especially after coming clean about killing Alpha.

At this point, Negan’s positive changes were just beginning however, enter The Reaper subplot where he is away from Lydia for several episodes. By the end, he just leaves without even a formal goodbye for fear that Maggie will kill him.

Lydia is the only one, except maybe Gabriel, who was actually upset that he left. They reunite at Riverbend where he’s married and expecting a child and any further father-daughter development vanishes.

Seriously? Where does this leave Lydia now?

Most recently, Aaron seems to have taken the father figure mantle having warmed up to her considerably. Their father-daughter relationship is growing but with one episode to go, that could possibly come to an end as well.

Negan did bond very well with Judith; however, it was very obvious that Daryl was going to be both uncle and father-figure for the young Miss Grimes. Lydia has suffered so much throughout her life and continues to as of the most recent episode of The Walking Dead.

I’d like to think Negan and Lydia will be able to grow their father-daughter bond once again, with the hopes that she can be a loving older sibling for his child.

What did you think of Negan and Lydia’s father-daughter relationship? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!

The final episode of The Walking Dead airs on Sunday, November 20 on AMC.