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‘The Walking Dead’: Robert Kirkman Explains Why Glenn Had To Die In The Season 7 Premiere

By Chrissie Williams
Published on: 05:12 PST, Oct 28, 2016

The Walking Dead fans want to know who is responsible for Glenn’s (Steven Yeun) death. We have Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan ), who gave Glenn the fatal blow to the head with his baseball bat, Lucille. Even so, Robert Kirkman claims that Negan is not responsible for Glenn’s death. Steven Yeun assured fans that his alter ego’s death wasn’t Daryl Dixon’s (Norman Reedus) fault, either. So, if it was not Negan or Daryl’s fault, who is responsible for Glenn’s death?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71H7p-9tZ4U

Entertainment Weekly reported that the person at fault for Glenn’s brutal death was none other than The Walking Dead creator, Robert Kirkman. Robert killed Glenn off in issue 100 of The Walking Dead comic book series. Of course, at times, the television series changes the script from the comics to make the series more exciting or pack a bigger punch. For example, in The Walking Dead comic book, Tyrese (Chad Coleman) was beheaded by the Governor (David Morrissey), but in the television show, Hershel (Scott Wilson) died instead.

The Walking Dead showrunner, Scott Gimple, and Robert Kirkman did put a twist on Season 7 premiere when they gave TWD fans two deaths for the price of one. First, Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) died, and then Negan turned his sights on Glenn and killed him in a truly devastating way.

Robert Kirkman claims that Glenn’s fate was sealed, and it was his time to die in The Walking Dead, as much as his death pained the fans.

“It’s just that there’s a lot of material that comes from Glenn’s death in the comics,” Gimple and Robert explained. “And while we do try to change things up to keep things interesting for the audience, and for me, this is one that there’s so much that comes from Rick, there’s so much with Negan, because that character is someone that he killed, and definitely Maggie is someone that kind of gets put on the trajectory that affects a great number of stories and a great number of characters moving forward. So it was kind of essential that that part of the scene at least remained intact, unfortunately.”

Robert and Gimple did talk about other options and saving Glenn’s death for another time, The Wrap reports. In the end, Robert felt that Glenn had to die, and it was a pivotal point for the storyline of The Walking Dead.

“At the end of the day, we were like, pulling the thread on this sweater just pulls too many things apart and it’s too difficult to get back on that trajectory without that death,” Kirkman said.

Robert admitted that Glenn’s death on screen was difficult for him to see. “Glenn was actually the first death in the comic that happened after the person was cast,” said Kirkman. “Abraham died in the comic book before Cudlitz had ever been cast as Abraham. There are a lot of other big deaths that happened, but they were all done in the comic before the person was cast, so Glenn was actually the first time while I was writing the comic where I was like, ‘Oh, geez.'”

Kirkman realizes that The Walking Dead fans are upset about Glenn’s death and urged them to continue to watch the series. By the middle of Season 7, it will make sense as to why Glenn had to go at this point in the storyline, and they will understand he served his purpose on The Walking Dead.

“Glenn was the first time there was an actual human being type to it in such an intimate way so it does make things a little weird and more difficult, but at the same time I can’t allow that to change the way that I write stories, ” Robert explained. “I just push through it and stay the course, but I do find myself very hesitant to do character deaths on the show. Especially these days, just because you miss these people and it’s just not a fun process. But it’s something that we all agree what the story needs, and it definitely makes the show better and it makes things heightened and cool. It’s tough but we gotta do what we gotta do.”

The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights on AMC.

[Featured Image by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Hyundai]

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