The Walking Dead season 7: Negan and King Ezekiel are one and the same, says Lennie James

The British actor believes the two leaders have more in common than you first think

The Walking Dead season 7 continued tonight (30 October) introducing a whole new faction and selection of characters.

In an episode that was the polar opposite to last week's traumatic opener - which saw the death of two main characters - we met King Ezekiel (Khary Payton) and his pet tiger, Shiva.

Ezekiel, a popular character from Robert Kirkman's comic book series of the same name, is introduced as an ally of Morgan (Lennie James) and Carol's (Melissa McBride), waltzing around his community using old-fashioned language.

Despite this, Morgan actor James believes there isn't too much separating him from baseball bat-wielding maniac Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) who murdered characters Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) in the season 7 premiere.

"Negan puts on a show - Ezekiel's just putting on a different kind of show. All the leaders are playing a role, it's just Ezekiel's is being a King - and I think if you have a pet tiger, you can be whatever you like."

We spoke with Lennie James earlier this month where he revealed to us he was "green-eyed with envy" not to be involved in the much-discussed gruesome death scene from last week's premiere episode.

The Walking Dead season 7 continues int he UK at 9pm every Monday on FOX.