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Having a Smashing Time: 'The Walking Dead' Star Says His Death Was Too Much But Isn't Sorry

'Issue 100' of the comic book saw Glenn's head caved in by the merciless Negan and his baseball bat; the show dutifully followed suit.

By Tom ChapmanPublished 6 years ago 2 min read
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'The Walking Dead' [Credit: AMC]

AMC's #TheWalkingDead has never been one for the kiddies, but as we opened up Season 7 (and the skulls of two of the characters), #RobertKirkman's show delivered its killer blow. It may have taken up until Episode 84, but TWD fulfilled its #comicbook legacy, after various fake-out deaths, and finally whacked #StevenYeun's Glenn Rhee.

As one of the most iconic panels from Kirkman's comic book of the same name, "Issue 100" saw the hapless Glenn have his head caved in by the merciless Negan and his baseball bat Lucille. The show dutifully followed suit, but speaking since, even Yeun himself has said that they may have gone a little overboard on the corn syrup.

Batter Up

Although Yeun has now been gone for a whole season, it is unsurprising that certain factions of the Walkerverse are still in mourning. Thankfully, Yeun still pulls in the crowds at various conventions, so when speaking at Walker Stalker Con in Nashville, Comicbook.com reports that even he was shocked by the brutality of Glenn's departure:

"Maybe we did it too far. It was pretty bad but we did it and people remember it, so it's cool. I think it was a lot of things. People think it was the gore. It was gory but it wasn't any more gory than anything that we've shown before."

Remembering back to "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be," we were delivered a killer "two birds, one stone" scenario that we should've seen coming. The death of Michael Cudlitz's Abraham was already a grim spectacle, but for a little second we thought that Glenn would be saved from the bat. However, being the show with the least f*cks given on #TV, showrunner #ScottGimple went and turned our lovable delivery boy into a human piñata too.

Gone Too Soon

We have seen many so-called fan favorites kick the apocalyptic bucket since 2010, but perhaps Glenn's passing was felt more than most. Partly due to Yeun's innocence in his performance, or with the character's legacy from the comic books, Glenn's murder was truly something to behold:

"I think what it was was just watching someone that you feel like you know getting killed that way and getting killed in a way that was not like, 'Oh man, look at Noah getting ripped up,' which is gnarly but it was just happening to him, whereas, in this instance, it was just like, 'You could've stopped but you're just gonna keep going and you're gonna rub it in.'"

By now, I'm sure you will have seen the various behind-the-scenes pictures and graphic makeup that went into giving TWD its biggest death ever, but Yeun still remains defiant in defense of Gimple's bloodlust:

"That's great that Glenn can have that type of place to effect people like that. I mean, sorry, but mission accomplished."

His response is presumably aimed at the horde of complaints that flooded in after the episode. The politically correct parade may have called out Season 7's premiere as unnecessary violent, but I'm sorry, how do you propose we kill someone off with a wire-wrapped baseball bat, tap them to cause a mild concussion? Personally, I think that the no-nonsense deaths of Glenn and Abraham kicked off the series to one hell of a start at an age when most shows are already on their way out.

While the rest of the season muddled through a quagmire of convoluted storylines and lackluster villains, a kiss from Lucille will go down in the history books of not only The Walking Dead, but TV shows everywhere. As we return for Season 8 and Episode 100, here's hoping AMC has something spectacular to pull out of the bag this time around.

Check out Glenn's heroic death in the Season 7 opener.

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About the Creator

Tom Chapman

Tom is a Manchester-based writer with square eyes and the love of a good pun. Raised on a diet of Jurassic Park, this ’90s boy has VHS flowing in his blood. No topic is too big for this freelancer by day, crime-fighting vigilante by night.

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