Summary
Glenn’s death was essential for the larger storylines in The Walking Dead, including Maggie’s character journey and the conflict with Negan. Negan killed Glenn to make a further example and punish Daryl for retaliating to Abraham’s death, solidifying Negan’s power and danger. The brutality of Glenn’s death was meant to be impactful and represented a turning point for Negan’s character development in the series.
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Years after the shocking event on The Walking Dead, many fans are still asking why did Negan kill Glenn. Comic fans knew The Walking Dead’s Glenn death was inevitable. There was one moment before the big episode where it looked like Glenn had died, but he miraculously survived. The Glenn death moment finally came when Negan had the characters trapped and decided to make an example of one of their group. Abraham didn’t die with an arrow through the eye, as he did in the comics, but wasn’t the only casualty. As is now legendary, Negan took Lucille and promptly ended Glenn’s time on The Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead had Negan kill Abraham instead of Glenn to throw off the comic book fans, which meant Glenn being the next victim was a genuine shock regardless of how clued-in a viewer was to the on-page TWD storyline. However, the truth is that there was no way Glenn was going to walk away from this alive. He had to die for several things to happen, including Maggie’s character journey of leaving the group and the eventual conflict with Negan. Glenn also had to die to make Negan as dangerous as he became. But, when it comes to the storylines, why did Negan kill Glenn at all after he already proved his point with Abraham?
RELATED: A Doctor Examines The Walking Dead Glenn Death In Season 7
How & When Glenn Died In TWD – Show Vs. Comics
While the Glenn Walking Dead death still shocks fans to this day, the answer to why did Negan kill Glenn is that he had to die in The Walking Dead season 7. In the comics, specifically, The Walking Dead #100, Negan and the Saviors had Rick and his allies at his mercy. To demonstrate the consequences of crossing the Saviors, Negan brutally executed a member of Rick’s group, Glenn, by bashing his head in with his trademark weapon Lucille. The TV version of the story headed in the same direction when the conflict with the Saviors in season 6 led to a direct confrontation with Negan.
As in the comics, Negan picked his victim, whose identity was kept secret until the season 7 premiere. Negan’s victim was revealed to be Abraham. So, with Abraham dead, why did Negan kill Glenn and not one of the other survivors? Negan killed Glenn to make a further example, because of Daryl — who retaliated in anger to Abraham’s death. Daryl’s outburst irritated Negan, so he killed Glenn as well. The tragedy of Glenn’s Walking Dead death influenced both the spinoff Fear The Walking Dead and the original series. However, the show put its own twist on the Glenn Walking Dead death by killing Abraham alongside him.
The Walking Dead generally used the same story arcs but kept viewers in suspense by killing off different characters. There was never a chance Glenn would be spared due to this inter-canon disparity, however. Not long after the episode aired, Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman explained that Glenn’s Walking Dead death in the comics was far too important for it to be replaced with anyone else [via EW]. In other words, Negan killed Glenn because his death was the impetus for a larger storyline that still needed to happen in the show. All the way to The Walking Dead series finale, the respective story arcs of the remaining survivors were shaped by this particular tragedy.
Glenn’s Death Was Too Important A Catalyst For Future Stories
Kirkman pointed to material in the comics related to Rick, Maggie, and Negan as the answer to why did Negan kill Glenn. According to Kirkman, so much happened to these characters due to Negan’s decision to kill Glenn, which was why it was “essential” that he die in the season 7 premiere. It’s true that, though the death of any character would have affected Rick and the others, what happened to Glenn was particularly meaningful for Rick and Maggie.
Glenn, who had been at Rick’s side since season 1, had become his most trustworthy and dependable ally. Losing Glenn was a big blow for Walking Dead then-leading hero Rick Grimes, and it’s what set up his story for both Walking Dead seasons 7 and 8. Seeing Glenn meet such a horrendous fate is what fueled Rick’s hatred for Negan and led to his revenge-driven crusade to end their servitude and defeat the Saviors. Likewise, committing the said atrocity was essential for Negan himself to transform throughout the series.
Glenn’s Walking Dead death also had a similar, but longer-lasting impact on Maggie, who grew stronger and more determined. Glenn’s death was a tragic but defining moment for Maggie. It made her strive to build a better society. It also meant that she was more likely to double-cross someone in the future if it meant protecting her family.
RELATED: Why Maggie Left The Walking Dead In Season 9 (And Returned In Season 10)
Another character deeply impacted by this story was Daryl, and how it affected him was actually an addition made to the show, since Daryl doesn’t exist in the Walking Dead comics. Daryl’s guilt over Glenn haunted him through season 7 and resulted in a powerful, emotional scene with Maggie, who told him that she didn’t blame him for what Negan did. So as sad as Glenn’s death was, there’s so much that wouldn’t have happened if a different character had been killed in his place on The Walking Dead.
Why Glenn’s Death Was So Brutal
The brutality of Glenn’s Walking Dead death, just like in the comics, was actually intended to be upsetting – not just because of the sheer gore, but what the character represents. As Glenn actor Stephen Yeun says, it’s not just the gratuitous violence that made the incident so impactful. Rather, it was the fact that The Walking Dead gave such a brutal death to a character with such deeply-established roots in the series. Here’s what Yeun told CinemaBlend in an interview about his character’s iconic death scene:
“It was gory, but it wasn’t any more gory than anything that we’ve shown before. 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’s 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.’ And that’s probably where it felt like it was too much.”
Moreover, when looking at why did Negan kill Glenn, it gave Walking Dead’s Negan arguably the best story arc in the entire series, with the question of Negan’s redemption remaining a point of contention among long-time viewers. Indeed, years after Glenn’s death, its brutality remains cemented in audiences’ minds. For better or worse, there’s no doubt that Glenn’s fate forever changed The Walking Dead’s savage universe.
Killing Glenn Redefined Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Career
In the end, questioning why did Negan kill Glenn in The Walking Dead was simply because Negan needed this for his character development. After this, Negan was a wildcard that everyone hated and no one trusted. He slowly became one of the most important characters on the show as time went on. At the same time, Negan killing Glenn helped redefine Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s career.
By killing Glenn, Negan became as important as anyone on the show, rivaling even Rick and Daryl. That was proven when Negan got a spin-off series of his own with Maggie. Morgan said if he could change anything, though, he wouldn’t have killed Glenn (via Insider).
“It changed my life. That one scene changed my life, literally, in so many ways. And I still get s*** for it. People remind me daily that Glenn was their favorite character.”
By becoming such a major character, Jeffrey Dean Morgan got something he had never experienced before in his career. Negan got a long-term job commitment. He was one of the key characters on Supernatural and died pretty early on. He got a role in the DCU and ended up dying in a flashback scene as Bruce Wayne’s dad. “I had a conversation with Scott [Gimple], and it was like, ‘You gotta be on it for at least three years if you want to be a part of this show.’ I was like, ‘That seems like a long time,” Morgan said. However, he and Hilarie Burton welcomed their second child, and The Walking Dead gave Morgan a consistent paycheck.
What Steven Yeun Said About Glenn’s Death
Though Glenn’s death was something Walking Dead comic book fans expected, there was always the possibility that it wouldn’t happen in exactly the same way as the comics as the show had made some changes to comic book stories in the past. When it came to Glenn, however, Steven Yeun’s story wasn’t all that drastically different throughout his time on the show. His role as Glenn served the same as it did in the comics – as the emotional heart of the team and as a symbol of goodness in the apocalyptic setting.
It’s that role as a symbol that sometimes frustrated Yeun. Yeun thought that the show could have done more with Glenn’s humanity instead of propping the character up as a symbol. He’s said of his time on the show:
I felt like I was servicing a concept of goodness as opposed to engaging with Glenn’s humanity.
The result there, when seeing a character as a symbol instead of as a flawed human being, is that the actor playing the character wasn’t necessarily given as much to dig into for their role. It meant that Glenn was frequently seen as the moral compass, the one to warn characters of the darkness, instead of getting to provide a human characterization with more depth and nuance, like Carol. Her growth and change from an abused wife afraid to make waves to someone who could walk through a crowd with a knife and use it without blinking was a gradual and fascinating transformation.
Yeun’s statement about “servicing a concept of goodness” is what made many fans disappointed in Glenn’s death. While he was likable, fans wanted to see more done with the character in The Walking Dead.
Sources: CinemaBlend, Entertainment Weekly, Insider, Wall Street Journal