Spoilers for ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Episode 2

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: There’s no doubt about Maggie and Negan being the center of attention when it comes to AMC’s latest series ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City.’ Of course, in addition to these two pivotal characters, there are several other side characters who are introduced as the episodes progress, but the villain remains somewhere in the background. The Croat, who has been given the title of the main villain in ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ is barely around.

Funnily enough, The Croat might be one of the most mentioned characters in ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Episode 2, but his screen time is limited to a few minutes at most. So, the fear of The Croat continues but with two episodes gone, there has been next to no action involving this villain. Nevertheless, thanks to Negan, there is some more insight into just how terrifying The Croat is.

Negan tells the tale

Maggie and the viewers have definitely been curious to know more about Negan and The Croat's relationship because it wasn’t shown to be pleasant in the teasers. In ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Episode 2, Negan finally gives Maggie some insight into it. Negan starts his story by telling Maggie that The Croat had been through something awful, too horrible for one to even imagine, which led to Negan taking him in. The Croat was grateful and even called Negan his brother because of how safe he made him feel.

Here's where things take a villainous turn. While Negan was convinced he was helping The Croat, the latter had a unique power up his sleeve: the ability to read people, toy with them, and tear them apart. Negan called The Croat a “rabid dog who needed to be put down” after this villain tortured a young girl. Sadly, Negan had only one shot and he blew it, but he did manage to injure one ear, which explains his missing right ear.

At this point, Maggie is going through a mix of emotions because if The Croat can hurt a young girl, he can also hurt her son, Herschel. In addition, she also realizes that The Croat will want to kill Negan the second he gets a chance, making things harder. This background of The Croat gives us some insight into his ruthless nature and hints at his villain origin story.

No screen time for The Croat?

By the looks of it, ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ is hyping up its villain without actually showing much of him in action. In Episode 2, The Croat only appears for about a minute toward the end. The pilot episode had more of him than the latest episode, and one can only hope that his screen time doesn’t keep dwindling as the series progresses. Some Negan versus The Croat action is much overdue.

‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Episode 2 is available to stream on AMC and AMC+.