Seven Times ‘The Walking Dead’ Really Triggered Fans

Being the top-rated show on cable doesn’t come without its highs and its lows among customer satisfaction. The Walking Dead has earned a considerable amount of praise from fans but has, at times, triggered outrage.

Sometimes, fan of The Walking Dead are left petitioning to bring back a dead character. Other times, they really want to see someone die. Others rant for or against relationships while some just disagree with writing or character decisions. As the saying goes, it’s impossible to please everyone — especially when everyone is millions and millions of people.

Spoilers follow for The Walking Dead TV series and its comic book source material as we run through seven times the fans were absolutely triggered.

Carl’s Death

Carl’s death seems to have spawned the largest and most intense outrage among fans of The Walking Dead. Everyone knew there were fans for Carl but they were never as loud or visible as when he revealed a bite mark implying certain doom.

Most of the outrage seems to surround the fact that Carl’s death marks a massive deviation from Robert Kirkman’s source material. In the comics, Rick’s son is in the process of emerging as a leader and could possibly emerge as such a figure for the new world being rebuilt. Such an outcome is no longer a possibility on the TV series following the February 25 Mid-Season Eight premiere which will send him off. 

The death of Carl prompted petitions calling for Chandler Riggs to be brought back onto the show and showrunner Scott Gimple to be booted from his role. Like the rest of this list, the petitions proved ineffective, but the effects of Carl’s death have yet to be seen. 

Beth’s Death

Beth Greene was the only remaining relative for Maggie but appeared to be forgotten by her sister at times during her final season of The Walking Dead. Wrapping up the Slabtown arc of the show’s fifth season, Beth would be killed after a sudden shot to the head after nearly half of a season was spent on trying to rescue her.

It wasn’t the feeling of time being wasted for an undesirable outcome which prompted the outrage among fans. Immediately upon Beth’s death(which was spoiled by AMC’s social media accounts for west coast viewers), the fans many didn’t know existed came out in droves. Petitions arose to bring the Emily Kinney character back to the show like never before at that point and, ultimately, they may have been a rare case of working out as she appeared in a hallucination sequence during Tyreese’s farewell episode. 

Dumpstergate

Glenn would be a trigger point for The Walking Dead fans on more than one occasion but the first came a bit more unexpectedly. What is referred as some fans as “dumpstergate” is also called “a lesson” by some members of The Walking Dead‘s crew.

In Season Six, Glenn and Nicholas found themselves trapped on top of a dumpster surrounded by walkers. After Nicholas decided to end it right there rather than live through being devoured, the two fell into the horde and the camera’s framing made Glenn look as though he were being eaten. After the next week’s episode would follow Morgan Jones in a flashback, Glenn’s survival by crawling under the dumpster would be revealed a couple of weeks later.

It was a slick plot point which could have worked in the years before social media but set photos of Steven Yeun revealed Glenn’s survival despite extra efforts by the show to convince fans he had died.

The Cliffhanger

The Walking Dead would go bold on the cliffhanger aspect quickly after the dumpster mystery. The Season Six finale drew out Negan’s introduction to the AMC show across a couple of episodes rather than revealing his kill in his first appearance.

To end The Walking Dead‘s sixth season, one of its strongest overall, Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character would bring his bat down on the camera, leaving fans to wonder who his precious Lucille had struck for an entire off-season. 

Fans were triggered by the decision to have a cliffhanger but should be giving AMC and the show’s writers credit by now. Looking back, the cliffhanger created one of the most buzzworthy moments in TV history. The “Who did Negan kill?” mystery is only comparable to “What’s in the hatch?” on LOST, “Who shot J.R.?” on Dallas, or “Is Jon Snow dead?” on Game of Thrones. 

The Premiere

Despite having certain expectations of what was coming, The Walking Dead fans learned a valuable lesson in being careful what they wish for with the Season Seven premiere. 

After months of begging to learn the identity of Negan’s kill after the Season Six finale, more fans would tune in to The Walking Dead‘s Season Seven premiere than ever before to see the new villain kill not one but two members of Rick’s group. Both Abraham and Glenn would go out in truly brutal fashion.

Immediately after the episode, fans began to vent in every place they could be heard about wishing Glenn were still alive or the episode being too violent. Naturally, petitions arose to bring Glenn back to life, despite Greg Nicotero directing an episode which masterfully followed the source material with an interesting twist on the narrative’s unveiling. 

The Oceanside Episode

After weeks of Negan tormenting Rick Grimes and company, The Walking Dead took a hard left turn away from the core story to follow up with Tara and Heath’s adventure. The characters were last seen more than eight episodes prior and completely out of the loop on what had happened with Negan, the Saviors, Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom. 

Fans were frustrated to be completely removed from the show’s core conflict for an entire episode and being forced to wait an extra week to jump back into it. The worst part of it was that the episode titled Swear was not an uninteresting episode. Alanna Masterson delivered a great performance and a new community was introduced to the series. The timing, however, was enough to send fans into a frenzy when they were eager to see Rick and company rise up. 

VFX Slips

The Walking Dead is often recognized for its impressive visual effects work. Greg Nicotero’s team has been awarded for their impressive creations year after year. Two snafus in Season Seven, however, left people talking about some computer generated effects for the wrong reasons. 

First, there was the green screen. Rick Grimes had recently met an interesting bunch of characters residing in a trash heap. It’s actually an impressively crafted set made up of smashed cars and all sorts of junk but its actual location at the AMC studio doesn’t allow for the sprawling junkyard layout required for television. As Rick stood atop the trash heap, the background behind him was a green screen creation which fans were quick to call out.

Then came the deer. While out on a run for guns for those trash folks, Rick and Michonne encountered a deer in a location which was once a carnival. The deer, however, was very clearly added to the scene after the fact and was in no way practical. In today’s day and age, fans are quick to take their screenshots to social media and craft memes of such hiccups.