Who Is The Croat From ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City'? Everything We Know About His Past With Negan
The Walking Dead: Dead City not only marked the return of Negan Smith (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan), but it also gave way to a chilling new villain with a key connection to Negan's past.
In Touch rounded up everything fans need to know about The Croat (Željko Ivanek) ahead of season 2, which is set to premiere on AMC on May 4, 2025.
The Croat is the primary antagonist of TWD: Dead City season 1 and the terrifying leader of a group of survivors known as the Burazi in Manhattan, New York. He is known for his sadistic leadership style and his proclivity for torturing his victims.
Prior to the beginning of season 1, he kidnaps Maggie's teenage son, Hershel (Logan Kim), in an attempt to obtain information about Negan and potentially reunite with him.
Željko is a Slovenian-American actor who has been working professionally in television and film since the early 1980s. Over the years, he's collected a wide array of guest roles in hit shows, such as The X-Files, Murder, She Wrote, Frasier, LOST, ER, 24, The West Wing, True Blood and more.
He's had major roles in Heroes, Madam Secretary, Oz and The Walking Dead: Dead City.
Fans may also remember him from his work in film, including Argo, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Last Duel.
Very little is known about The Croat's history prior to the outbreak. His nickname – as his real name has not been given in the show – and his use of Croatian implies he is from Croatia.
He also shares that he once had a family, a wife named Mia and three children – Nika, Hana and Filip. After the outbreak, he left them hiding in an abandoned post office while he went out to search for food, but when he returned, he discovered his family had all been killed and eaten by another group of survivors.
It's revealed in the first episode of season 1 that The Croat is a former member of Negan's disbanded group of survivors known as the Saviors.
In a behind-the-scenes look into TWD: Dead City that aired on AMC+, Željko explained that it wasn't until The Croat met Negan that he began 'rebuilding' himself following the loss of his family. He said it was also when his character gained the 'determination to never be vulnerable in that way' again.
While with the Saviors, The Croat utterly idolized Negan. He served as an interrogator for the group, but he fell out of Negan's good graces when he directly disobeyed his order and tortured and murdered a young girl he believed to be a scout from another community.
'Let's just say there were a lot of psychos in my crew back then, but he always stood out as being an exceptionally insane son of a bitch,' Negan recalls to Maggie in the episode 'Old Acquaintances.'
Disgusted and realizing that he could never be trusted, Negan tried to shoot The Croat back then, but he missed and ended up shooting off his ear as he ran away.
Despite their complicated past, The Croat appeared truly excited to see Negan again years later and even seems to look at him as a father figure, despite being older than him.
'The Croat's a complicated character, because, on one hand, he's looking for safe harbor,' Željko shared in AMC+'s behind-the-scenes interview, noting that The Croat wants to 'find a way to no longer be vulnerable in the world.'
The change he undergoes after meeting Negan 'becomes a strength,' Željko added. 'But it also becomes what makes him scary.'
Warning: Spoilers ahead for season 2!
Trailers and sneak peeks reveal The Croat seemingly setting up Negan as a big bad leadership figure again – this time with the Burazi.
In one clip, he tells Negan that he brought him a gift and gives him a new version of Lucille, a barbed-wire covered bat and Negan's famed weapon of choice in the flagship series. Longtime viewers recall the original Lucille was cracked and then burned in season 10 of TWD, making her return an especially exciting development for fans.
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