Entertainment
Hilarie Burton On Return to The Walking Dead Universe After Family Loss

NEED TO KNOW
- Hilarie Burton says her recent cameo on The Walking Dead: Dead City was tough to shoot
- In an interview with PEOPLE, Burton reveals she and husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan filmed the emotional reunion days after his father’s death in July 2024
- Burton hopes to reprise her role as Negan’s wife, Lucille, in the future
Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 finale.
Hilarie Burton‘s surprise return to The Walking Dead universe earlier this month wasn’t easy to film.
“Please forgive me if I get upset,” Burton, 42, exclusively tells PEOPLE of reprising Negan’s wife Lucille on TWD: Dead City‘s June 15 episode. “I just watched it. I didn’t see it on Sunday. This was a really hard episode to shoot.”
In the episode, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) hallucinates his dead wife after sustaining a head injury.
In a brief conversation, the usually tough-as-nails leader lets down his guard. Visibly upset, he apologizes for failing to keep his cancer-stricken wife alive.
Burton, also Morgan’s real-life wife, says that all the emotion fans witnessed between their characters was real.
“What people didn’t know is that, throughout this season, Jeff’s dad was dying. He had died like six days before we shot this scene,” Burton says of filming the scene last July. “Watching this man that I love so much hold that grief and really have to focus at work and hold it together, I wouldn’t cry except I just watched it.”
Robert Clark/AMC
“It was really, really amazing to watch the person you love most in the world be able to do that,” Burton, who has been with Morgan, 59, since 2009, adds of filming their scene together. “He was able to channel a lot of the grief he was feeling for his dad into this episode while not letting anyone down.”
Morgan’s father, Richard, died July 2 after a brief illness. Burton says the Walking Dead spinoff crew, whom she previously worked with on White Collar, gave him a couple of days off from filming so the family “could go say goodbye to his dad” in California.
“It really was a family affair,” the One Tree Hill alumna says. “Everyone knew that he was dealing with this tragedy, but these storylines had been written well in advance. We had no idea when we got the news that his dad was sick that we would have to film this scene within days of seeing him for the last time. And we definitely had no idea this episode was going to air on Father’s Day. It was a lot.”
Robert Clark/AMC
“I wish people knew what was going on behind the scenes when they see someone’s work,” Burton says of sharing such a vulnerable moment. “Anybody who’s in this line of work is usually tapping into something hard. The thing he was tapping into was really hard, but also very fresh. Working when you’re raw like that is a special skill set.”
She and the crew weren’t the only ones to offer Morgan support. Burton and Morgan’s two children, George and Gus, were also on set. Burton says their oldest, Gus, 15, an aspiring actor who now towers over his parents, showed up in a big way.
Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty
“Our kids were there with us and in his trailer hanging out, so he could just be silly with them in between every take,” Burton says. “Even when I wrapped, our son stayed with him at work and just shadowed the director and got to hang out with the camera crew. And so the balm that eases loss like that is being surrounded by the people who are still here and that we get to love on. Our son stepping up and being there for his dad at work was also a very cool turn of events.”
Could Lucille return to Dead City again?
While a third season of Dead City hasn’t been announced, Burton hopes fans will get to see more of her character.
“Anytime Jeff asks me to do anything, the answer is always yes,” says Burton. “He pushes me in a good way. And I really like that group of people. We’ve been with them for so long that it’s always a nice reunion.”
On Sunday’s season two Dead City finale, fans get to see a bit of the old Negan return. In a throwback to the controversial season six finale, Negan starts reciting “Eeny Meeny Miney Moe” before bashing in Bruegel’s (Kim Coates) skull.
Robert Clark/AMC
“He definitely loves old Negan, and so do I,” Burton says of her husband getting to revisit the iconic moment on Sunday’s episode. “I’ll never forget laying in bed when he got the script for this part that wasn’t named Negan — It was all secretive at the time. And he knew exactly who it was, and he knew that he wanted to do it, and he was so excited to be bad.”
Burton says the overwhelming fan response to Glenn’s death in season seven was tough on their whole family.
“I think it was hard on all of us because we went from being able to be anonymous out in public to everyone recognizing him and also being really, really angry with him,” Burton says, adding it wasn’t all bad. “There’s a silver lining to it in that anytime my kids have an issue at school, he’s really great to bring into those meetings. He doesn’t have to say anything. He’s just kind of a scary guy now.”
Robert Clark/AMC
Burton hopes viewers get to see more of “old Negan” moving forward.
“I think Negan has been on a grief and mourning tour for a long period of time,” Burton says of Negan’s redemption arc that played out in later seasons of The Walking Dead. She adds that pep talks from Lucille and Negan’s current wife Annie (Medina Senghore) on Dead City reminded him: “You’re not a villain.”
“That was an important moment that gives him permission to move forward,” Burton says, adding, “I think Negan is hilarious and really dynamic to watch when he’s at his worst. Lucille will continue to haunt him and hopefully pop up whenever he needs a pep talk because I like him bad.”
Entertainment
Chip and Joanna Gaines on If Being ‘Famous Parents’ Affected Them (Exclusive)

Chip and Joanna Gaines know that things have changed for them since they first became parents, and it’s becoming apparent as they raise their youngest son.
The HGTV stars spoke with PEOPLE for a new special edition, Chip & Joanna Gaines: Their Next Chapter (available now), and were asked if parenting is any different for them now that they are “famous parents.” Reflecting on the fact that their four older kids — Emmie, 15, Duke, 17, Ella, 18, and Drake, 20 — are now mostly grown, the couple says that things are different for their youngest, son Crew, 7.
“In my mind’s eye, it’s almost like we’re sitting at this big long table, and you’re on one side, and I’m on the other side. Crew is this little prep-school kid somewhere in the middle,” Chip, 50, jokes. “And we’ve got one of those little holders that holds the little egg. And we’re like, ‘Excuse me, Alfred, can we please get another this or not?'”
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Chip & Joanna Gaines
“Like, this kid is going to have a totally different upbringing,” he continues, joking, “these prior four were out shoveling cow manure at [ages] 6, 8, and 10.”
“It’ll be a little different,” Joanna explains. “But I think we have a little more capacity now to think more ‘future.’ What we care about the most is being together and celebrating moments together.”
The mom of five goes on to say that the couple has been prioritizing laying the groundwork to make sure they always have time for their family.
“We can finally have this space to think beyond just the everyday grind,” Joanna says. “I feel like we’re in this really beautiful season of reflection, but also now we can breathe, and we can see the future. What’s the vision for our family? What’s the vision for this business? Finally, we’re there, and now it’s like, ‘Okay, sky’s the limit!'”
Chip explains that for them, family has always been the priority, even when they were also focusing on their business.
“Ten years ago, we were extremely selfish in our desire to protect our family at all costs, which is not easy,” he says. “Everybody knows marriages are hard, families are complicated.”
“Family was most important. Business was most important. Our family was sincerely the most important, but it was a very close second that we cared so deeply about this business, and we wanted it to be relevant. We wanted it to be real,” Chip continues. “Now fast-forward 10 years, and things have shifted in this beautiful way.”
Chip & Joanna Gaines
The proud dad says that now, they’re lucky enough not to have to worry about “making it” anymore.
“I just feel a lot more confident about who we are as a couple now,” Chip says. “I love who we are together. And now you look at these beautiful kids who are — knock on wood — evolving into just great human beings. Just to raise kids that are not brats seems like a low bar, but it is harder than it looks.”
“We’ve got a boy who’s dating now, and the dad keeps reaching out like, ‘Hey, I’m so thankful for the way you’ve raised this boy because he’s really good to my daughter,’ ” the dad of five explains. “We don’t care if they’re the President of the United States or they’re going to go to Yale or Harvard. Obviously, we’d love for any of those things to occur, but that wasn’t the bar we set.”
“It was just like: Don’t be jerks. We care about our kids being good people in the communities that they eventually step into,” he adds.
For more from this exclusive interview, pick up PEOPLE’s new special edition Chip & Joanna Gaines: Their Next Chapter, available now.
Entertainment
Jaime King engaged to new man after losing physical custody of her sons in bitter divorce: report

Jamie King appears to be firmly in Loverville.
The “Hart of Dixie” star is engaged to investment banker Austin Sosa following her contentious divorce battle with ex Kyle Newman, People reports.
King, 46, recently lost physical custody of her sons James, 11, and Leo, 9, and was forced out of her Los Angeles pad for owing more than $42,000 in back rent.
As a result, King had been “staying with [Sosa’s] parents” in the lead-up to their engagement.
“She is very close with his family,” a source told the outlet.
In new photos obtained by Page Six, King flashed her diamond sparkler following an appointment at Sally Hershberger Salon in West Hollywood Monday.
King has only included Sosa in the caption of her Instagram post from last month, though she did not post a photo of her new beau.
“My God, I am the luckiest and most great mother ever. Thank you to Pammy, Chase, Austin, Gwendolyn and Carlos. Family forever 🎀💅🏻💯💗,” she wrote alongside several images of her with her two sons.
In March, a judge ruled that King and Newman, 49, will share legal custody of their two children, but the filmmaker will have sole physical custody.
King was given visitation rights, but she would have to be supervised and could only see the boys three times a week. In addition to supervised visits, King had been ordered to finish six months of rehab for drugs and alcohol.
Her custody agreement was dramatically amended after she failed to complete a six-month drug and alcohol program that consisted of weekly testing, a 26-week parenting program and both individual and conjoint counseling with her children.
“I’ve never had to think about myself as sober or not sober. I stopped using drugs at 17 or something,” King said.
In October 2024, Newman filed for sole custody of the kids after claiming he found his ex-wife “strung out” and “drunk” while watching their sons.
The exes were locked in a lengthy legal battle over finances and custody when King filed for divorce in 2020 after 13 years of marriage. They finally settled their divorce in 2023.
In March, King broke her silence after being kicked out of her LA home for racking up more than $42,000 in back rent.
If you or someone you care about is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Entertainment
Sophie Turner Admits She’s ‘Never Watched’ ‘Game of Thrones’

NEED TO KNOW
- Sophie Turner appeared on the Dish podcast and confessed that she’s never watched her widely celebrated series, Game of Thrones
- The actress began her role as Sansa Stark at the age of 14, and remained on the series for its entirety, leading her to say goodbye to the character at 23
- She told podcast co-hosts Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett that during her time on the HBO series, she learned several life lessons, including an unexpected sex education
Sophie Turner credits Game of Thrones for the many life lessons she learned during her adolescence.
Turner, 29, appeared on the Dish podcast and recalled for hosts Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett that her “amazing” experience on the series for nine years “informed [her] entire life in terms of like business decisions, just etiquette on set, how to act,” adding, “Everything I learned from Game of Thrones — and a bit from my parents”
Turner first auditioned for the role of Sansa Stark at the age of 12 and began filming two years later. She wrapped the series when she was 23 during the show’s eighth and final season.
Although she spent a large portion of her life filming the series, she confessed to the co-hosts that she has yet to watch the show, partly due to her aversion to watching herself on screen. However, she said filming the Emmy-winning series was the “best acting class.”
Helen Sloan/HBO
She noted that she “loved” filming the series, which also starred Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Peter Dinklage, Gwendoline Christie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey and many more.
“I never had proper formal training, so I got to learn from the amazing actors around me, which I felt like I won a competition,” she said. “But it was great. We all were a family.”
“My character, I got to live with,” Turner continued. “So it felt like we kind of merged into one person by the end of it. But it was amazing.”
Along with learning more about the craft and herself, she also quipped that she got her sex education lessons from watching the graphic scenes filmed on set.
She acknowledged the series’ nude scenes — some of which were intertwined with controversial storylines — were “really crazy s—.”
“I definitely got my sex education from that show,” she joked. “More, more than enough.”
Dish
In October 2024, less than five years after Game of Thrones wrapped, she was asked by Variety if she would ever play Sansa again.
“Maybe. I mean, it would have to be the exact same cast and the exact same crew otherwise, I wouldn’t go back, and that would just be Season 9,” she said, adding, “I don’t think we’re going to do a Season 9.”
However, the actress reiterated that she “loved playing Sansa.”
“I do wonder often what would she be doing now,” she told Variety. “Where would she be five years later, what would she be doing?”
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All eight seasons of Game of Thrones are available to stream on HBO Max. Turner’s next project is the upcoming Amazon Prime Video series Steal.
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