The Walking Dead: Robert Kirkman Reveals Why Glenn Had To Die

In the months leading up to the Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead, fans were going crazy trying to figure out just who Negan took his bat to. The show left audiences with an insane cliffhanger which teased the death of a major character - and fans finally learned who bit it when The Walking Dead returned Sunday. Now, creator and showrunner Robert Kirkman is talking about why one of Negan's victim had to die.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kirkman told the site that Glenn's death was ultimately too pivotal to overlooked.

"It's just that there's a lot of material that comes from Glenn's death in the comics," Kirkman 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."

Of course, many fans had hoped Kirkman and the folks at AMC would alter the show from the comics given Glenn's popularity. It wouldn't have been the first divergence of the series. On the show, it was Hershel who was beheaded by the Governor rather than Tyreese. Abraham lived too see another day on the small screen when he died in Denise's place in the comics. And let's not even get started about Andrea.

Ultimately, Kirkman felt that Glenn needed to go for the show to move forward into more complex storylines. He did admit that other options were discussed, but they were of little use. "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 did say the final decision was a difficult one, especially since Glenn's death in the comics was inked after Steven Yeun had been cast as the character. "Glenn was actually the first death in the comic that happened after the person was cast," he said.

"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.'"

The showrunner continued, saying, "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. 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 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."

Shortly after Season 7 premiered, Kirkman did what many fans did and paid tribute to Glenn and Yeun. He said, "He was always a very fun, very uplifting, upbeat member of the cast that always kept things lively. It's really tough not having him around."

The Walking Dead airs on Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.