‘The Walking Dead’: Tyreese Is A ‘Fighter But Not A Killer’

The Walking Dead’s creator Robert Kirkman was absolutely right when he said Sunday night’s mid-season premiere was either going to be a fan-favorite or a fan-hated episode, and fans were definitely talking about it everywhere.

Warning – spoilers are ahead! While many viewers loved the artistic feel with camera angles, lighting, and imagery, there was tremendous outcry when The Walking Dead’s Tyreese was killed.

Tyreese’s demise on The Walking Dead had been predicted by many fans when his portrayer, Chad Coleman, was cast in a new SyFy series The Expanse, but the loss was still felt immensely. Many fans had thought and hoped Walking Dead would take a break from killing off another character so closely after killing off Beth in the mid-season finale, but the burial scene shown in the beginning was not for Beth but Tyreese.

Much of the outcry over his death stems from the fact that when a new African American character is introduced in The Walking Dead, another African American character is killed off almost immediately, especially when it comes to African American males. While The Waking Dead has one of the most racially diverse group of survivors, the Nerds of Color blog also says the show seems to have a “Black Man problem” especially considering the show (until now) took place around Atlanta, a city where the majority of people are African American. Many fans on Twitter and Facebook echoed this sentiment.

According to the Daily Beast’s Melissa Leon, the episode is the best of the season so far. In an interview with Coleman, Leon asks him to give his opinion on his character’s death happening so soon after Beth is killed off.

“[Scott]’s a genius. He knows that [Beth’s death] was gonna jog the psyche to the point where [viewers] think ain’t nothing gonna happen. ‘Nothing can happen now, they gotta take a breather.’ Yeah, right! ‘I know they gonna take a breather, they gotta slow it down now.’ Nope! Got ’em!”

With Tyreese’s death, The Walking Dead proved once again you never know what’s going to happen next even if you’ve read the graphic novels. According to Business Insider, Tyreese didn’t die this soon in the graphic novel series and is brutally killed by the Governor.

In his interview with the Daily Beast, Coleman talked about how he felt in regards to his Walking Dead sendoff, and he said it was beautiful and just the way he wanted it. Coleman also plans to continue watching The Walking Dead because he’s “a huge fan of the show.”

“…I had nothing to say but ‘Bullseye, dude. This is amazing. This is an homage to the man.’ If you don’t know who Tyreese is, or you didn’t know, you know now. I would say, ‘This is brilliant, man, this is poetic.’ This is the way I wanted to go out. Everything was in there. I fought courageously to live and I went out in a somewhat tranquil and peaceful state. It was absolutely perfect, and with everybody coming back… This is definitely in the top five [Walking Dead episodes].”

There’s been a lot of talk about when The Walking Dead’s next major villain will appear now that the Governor and the cannibals are no longer a threat to Rick and the group. As the Inquisitr previously reported, readers of the Walking Dead graphic novels know one is coming whose name is Negan, and he’s rumored to be at least “ten times worse” than the Governor. Who will play him and when will he appear?

Last month at the New York Comic Con, show creator Robert Kirkman told Business Insider Negan has to be adapted for television before bringing him on The Walking Dead, which won’t be happening for a while.

“Negan says a word that you can’t say on television. I understand that. I think that there are ways around that. Luckily, we’re not going to have to work that out for some time. I’m not going to say when Negan will possibly show up on the show, but it’s not any time soon.”

As for Tyreese, throughout his time on The Walking Dead he reminded us what good is it to survive if you lose your humanity? And he never lost his.

As Coleman himself said about his Walking Dead character, “I’m a lover and a fighter, but not a killer.”

What did you think of Sunday’s Walking Dead episode and Tyrese’s death?

[Image courtesy of Forbes]