*Spoilers from episode 3 of season 6 ahead – read on at your own risk.*
The past two episodes of The Walking Dead have been super heavy with high body counts, but the death of a longtime favorite shocked us in more ways than one. When Nicholas, who turned out to have no redeeming qualities, decided to shoot himself in the head and take Glenn Rhee down with him as his limp body fell from the top of a dumpster and into a mob of walkers, Walking Dead fans let out a collective “Noooooo.” Then we got a nice shot of Glenn screaming as walkers started chomping down, sending blood and guts everywhere.
If you want to torture yourself by reliving this terrible moment, check out this clip.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LbpdQEtalI&w=640&h=360]
Did Glenn seriously just die?
In such a lame, unfulfilling way?
The answer? Probably not. Here’s why.
1. It was too obvious.
From Glenn having a nice moment with Hershel’s pocket watch to wanting to play hero for the rest of the group to throwing it back to season 1 by calling Rick a “dumbass,” the show had viewers saying “This doesn’t look good for Glenn” all episode long. I would hope the writers of the show want to be more shocking than that. It’s season 6…and this was a season 1 death.
2. The timing was weird.
Why would Glenn die with 10 minutes left in the episode? The end of such a major character would surely come at more of a high point, like the end of an episode or right before a huge brawl broke out. I honestly can’t even tell you much about the rest of the episode because I was too busy processing Glenn’s demise to pay attention.
3. We don’t see Glenn actually die.
The last we see of Glenn is his screaming face surrounded by zombies feasting. Sure, it looks pretty damn bad, but there are no close-ups of Glenn’s face being bitten (which you know the show’s producers love doing). Those blood and guts flying everywhere could very well belong to Nicholas – his body did seem to fall directly on top of Glenn and might have acted as a shield (see GIF). Being covered in blood may have disguised Glenn (a la season 1 and Carol’s break into Terminus) so he could crawl under that dumpster and wait it out undetected.
4. Steven Yeun wasn’t on The Talking Dead.
Chris Hardwick’s talk show that follows each new episode of TWD usually features actors who have just been killed off. Right away, Hardwick addressed Yeun’s absence, telling us “not to read into it.” This, of course, made me read into it. I’m reading that Yeun is still busy playing Glenn and he would have to be so vague during his appearance that it would feel sketchy. Plus, fans would want to give Yeun a proper sendoff.
5. Glenn wasn’t in The Talking Dead’s “In Memoriam” section.
Honestly, Talking Dead should stop doing this because it gives things away and, frankly, it’s getting old. Remember when baby Judith didn’t appear in the tribute to the fallen when Rick & Co. had to evacuate the prison? Totally ruined the “did she or didn’t she.” I have a feeling the same is the case here.
6. Scott Gimple’s announcement on The Talking Dead.
Chris Hardwick read this statement from showrunner Scott Gimple about Glenn:
“Dear fans of The Walking Dead, this is a hard story to tell and when we were planning to tell we knew our friends at the Talking Dead would be talking to you about it and knowing you’d all be talking, and feeling and commiserating, I knew we should say something about it lest our silence say something we didn’t mean to say or not say. So I’ll say this: In some way, we will see Glenn, some version of Glenn or parts of Glenn again, either in flashback or in the current story to help complete the story.”
Hmm…pretty fishy, Gimple. You didn’t feel a need to warn us that there might be Hershel flashbacks.
7. This episode was about Nicholas.
Nicholas coming to terms with all he has done was the core of this episode. A major character like Glenn dying as part of Nicholas’ arc would be wrong. When Glenn goes, it’s going to be his moment.
8. Glenn’s death now would ruin a major plot point from the comics later.
I’m about to spoil something major that happen in the comics, so take this as your warning to turn away.
Readers of the comic know that Glenn does die when a new villain named Negan appears on the scene and bashes in Glenn’s face with a barbed-wire covered baseball bat named Lucille. This is such a huge point in the comics that to kill Glenn before even introducing Negan would be crazy. We know the show doesn’t always follow the comics (for example, Carol killed herself in the comics, yet she’s still alive on the show; Andrea has been long gone on the show but is still alive in the comics), but to not have the threat of Glenn killing at the hand of Negan lingering would be a total letdown for comic lovers.
9. Maggie is definitely/probably/maybe preggos.
They haven’t revealed this, but all signs point to Maggie expecting. Not only did she and Glenn decide she should stay back in Alexandria during this mission to relocate the herd of walkers, but Glenn is so desperate to get back to her.
This might be a point to the “Glenn is dead” side because it would be devastating if Glenn dies only for us to find out Maggie is having his baby, but perhaps our hearts will break only to be overly relieved when Glenn is okay.
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Maybe I’m reading way too far into this, but I have now convinced myself that we’ll be seeing Glenn again.
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