“NO!” “OH MY GOD!” and “WHY?!” seemed to be the most popular reactions to Glenn’s death in The Walking Dead Season 7 Premiere. So why did Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman decide to kill him off? Comic fans will quickly remind you his death actually occurred 5 years ago in the notorious Issue #100, but even still the show oftentimes deviates from the source material (see: Carol, Morgan, Andrea, etc). Kirkman recently sat down with Entertainment Weekly to reveal his decision to kill Glenn and how it impacts the show going forward.
“It’s just that there’s a lot of material that comes from Glenn’s death in the comics,” says Kirkman. “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.”
He’s not kidding, here’s how the death looked in the show compared to the comics:
Kirkman also discusses alternative options and killing off his first character in the comic AFTER he had been cast. Head over to Entertainment Weekly for the rest of the interview and tell us if YOU think Glenn’s death was justified in the comments:
i agree he die that was HIS death y’know?
It sucks but it had to be Glenn. I would have been pissed if they gave his death to anyone else.
I admire the respect and love the fact they stayed true to the comic. With the twist at that. Ppl forget abe was dead in the comic at this point too. But why not have Negan kill both of them seeing as how Rick and co. Already killed at least 30??? Maybe 40 of his men already. We got 3 deaths compared to that # being Denise Abe and Glenn. That was a good move Kirkman and a true fan like me only fell in love with the show more and be even more excited for all future TWD and FTWD
I’m looking forward to watching Stephen Yeun and Michael cudlitz on their next-projects. I was very sorry to see them go but I’m looking forward to seeing King Ezekiel and his new group.
Sorry Mr. Kirkman I Strongly DISAGREE.
YOU and AMC Walking Dead SCREWED UP ROYALLY…. there is the comic version and the live show version, why they decided to kill off Glenn to match the comics (when they could have used alternative routes – hell “Carol” is still alive – in the comics Carol is dead and now Glenn) I understand they renewed for Season 8, but I initiate in a way they will learn from their mistake with the slow drop in enthusiasm and finally just end the live show. Sorry, but the AMC writers could have done better, but that Glenn death was unnecessary, they only did that to fulfill the “hardcore fans” expectation to follow the comic, completely disregarding the live action show where the alternative slight changes would have made for a better end game. AMC Walking Dead Fckked Up ROYALLY. Mr. Kirkman, your explanation for Glenn’s death in an alternative TV series (where many fans dont even bother to read the comics) and you chose the “hardcore fans” is going to cost you. Sorry.. 🙂
*Many people want to have differences from the comics -from the TV, but YOU and AMC Writers to all lump all the Walking Dead fans together just Fcked it up, trust me, lol you’ll see soon enough with your horse crap with carol morgan carol morgan rick carol morgan “action pack karate Jesus guy at Hilltop” Carol Morgan Rick Negan obvious failed writers. Don’t believe me? Check your ratings soo, its not gonna look good LOL
Well…. I completely disagree with the previous poster. I highly doubt this will have a large effect on ratings. I applaud Kirkman and the decision to kill Glenn. It took guts to do that. And I equally applaud the decision to put Daryl at fault.
As mentioned… there are reasons this had to happen. Maggie becomes such an important character down the road. Without Glenn’s death, none of it would happen. Glenn’s death was the catalyst. Abraham? So what? He’s been with the crew for a few seasons. Glenn was there from episode one. The very beginning. Who else has made it that long? Carol, Morgan and Carl. That’s it. And Carl and Carol weren’t even in episode one.
Glenn was the first person that Rick met aside from Morgan. He has known both the longest. Not only that, Glenn represented innocence in the group.
It had to be Glenn.
To quote Negan…. You can breathe. You can blink. You can cry… none of it will bring back Glenn though.
The show will loose some viewers, but I agree that it won’t be seriously damaging to the show’s ratings. And it’s Kirkman’s baby so if he thinks he needed to kill off Glenn for character development reasons, so be it. The thing for me is… If it means that Rick is now a wimp, Carol has given up, Daryl’s a mess and our group is lost and broken… that doesn’t work for me. The main reason I like the show is because of the characters and the bond they have (the zombies are just a bonus). The actors have done such a great job in making us care about what happens to these characters and we do. It makes me sad that Glenn didn’t get to see his child born. But I’m ok with evolution as long as our charters don’t totally loose themselves to this new world and can bounce back and become even tighter and stronger TOGETHER. I’m willing to give it a chance because I am still a fan and need to see how our group is doing, but I’m skeptical that I’m going to like life in this new world.
Kirkman is a lying piece of shit. I can understand killing Glenn in order to put Maggie on her path to lead the Hilltop but to kill Abraham then turn around & kill Glenn was bull shit. He claims he’s trying to keep the show interesting & keep viewers interested in the show but the only thing Kirkman & the other pieces of shit that wrote the episode they both died in are concerned about is seeing how badly they can piss the viewers off before there are no more viewers & the show gets cancelled. Kirkman & anyone else involved in decisions like that need to go fuck themselves & die in a ditch somewhere, it’s what they deserve& something tells me that no one would notice or care.