After 11 seasons and 177 episodes, The Walking Dead is considered by many to be the greatest zombie television series ever made. But man, has it been rough to watch!
The Walking Dead is not for the faint of heart, and I’m not just talking about the gruesome zombies or kills. The posy-apocalyptic series is an emotionally brutal watch, as fans have had to say goodbye to countless beloved characters.
Of course, nobody lives forever in a zombie-riddled dystopia. But it doesn’t make those deaths hurt any less. And while we’re no strangers to having our hearts broken by the series, this death in particular hit the hardest.
Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) is one of the series’ original survivors. Glenn rescues Rick Grimes from zombies in Atlanta and returns him to the group (and his family). Glenn becomes a trusted and dependable member of the crew throughout the show’s six seasons. Along the way, he meets and falls in love with Maggie Greene (Lauren Cohan).
In season 6, the survivors settle at Alexandria and begin trading with Hilltop, another community. There, they learn about another vicious band of survivors, the Saviors, and their ruthless leader Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).
After Rick’s group wipes out a Savior checkpoint, Negan and the Saviors capture their group. In the season six finale, “Last Day on Earth,” Negan forces the group to submit to him and his barbed-wire baseball bat, Lucille. As punishment, he budgeons an unseen member of the group, ending season six on a brutal cliffhanger.
In the season 7 premiere, “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be”, fans learned that Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) was the victim of Negan’s brutal attack. When Daryl (Norman Reedus) stands up and punches Nega, he is quickly subdued. But someone else must die to pay for his outburst. That unlucky person is Glenn, who is bludgeoned to death by Negan and his bat.
It’s a brutal death and a tragic ending for a fan-favorite character. Many people stopped watching the series after Glenn’s murder, myself included. Negan and Maggie survive, and eventually work together in The Walking Dead: Dead City.
(featured image: AMC)
