Fans have speculated for months who might die by the hands of Negan in AMC's hit show The Walking Dead, and on Sunday night they finally got their answer. Not one but two members of Rick's band of survivors met violent deaths at the business end of Negan's barbed wire baseball bat Lucille, and one of those deaths played out almost identically to the comic book source material.
Spoilers for the latest episode of The Walking Dead below! You've been warned!
First to meet his maker in the season seven premiere of the show was Abraham. In some ways then his death wasn't all that surprising. He's not a main character, and he plays a relatively minor role in the series overall. Not only that, but Abraham is the soldier-type that Negan could definitely view as a major threat. Negan bashes him in the head once, to which Abraham replies "Suck my nuts." Then Negan bashes him with the baseball bat again, killing him.
Next came Glenn, and it was hardly unexpected for those who have kept up with Kirkman's comic series or are at least familiar with some of the major moments that have occurred throughout the course of the more than 100 issues that make up the series. While Glenn's gruesome death is almost shot for shot taken from the comics, the circumstances are a little different. In the comic Glenn is the first and only victim of Negan's wrath at the time, but in the show Glenn is only killed after Daryl manages to punch Negan. That causes Negan to retaliate by ending Glenn's life.
It's there that the comics and show are almost identical. Negan's first hit cracks Glenn's skull and causes his left eye to pop out of its socket. He can barely speak. But he does manage to get out a few words. In the comic he simply utters "Maggie", but in the show he manages to look at his wife and say "Maggie, I'll find you" before Negan proceeds to bash Glenn's head into a bloody pulp. From the gory remains of Glenn's head to the eyeball, the show is painfully close to the source material.
Funnily enough, the major change from comic to show comes not in how Glenn's gory death is depicted but in the form of Negan's speech. In the comics Negan tells Rick's group they are being a "bunch of pussies," something that is a no-no for television. In the comics Negan also says that Glenn is taking the act of being bludgeoned "like a champ," a phrase that Negan uses in reference to Abraham on the show. Negan referring to Lucille as being a thirsy vampire bat is true to the comic.
Perhaps some fans would have liked to see Glenn survive on the show. After all, he cheated death numerous times in the past. He almost had his head cracked open with a bat and his throat slit in an earlier season, and season six faked out fans by having both audiences and Rick's group believe Glenn to be dead for several episodes, only for him to have actually survived a near-death experience.
The comics and show have diverged in numerous ways before and are largely two different beasts, but in this instance Glenn's infamous death scene was simply was too terrible and shocking for the show to not go there. It's a major event that colors everything Rick's group does from then on out, so to not have it happen in the show would have simply been out of place. RIP Glenn, you were doomed from the start. You will be missed.
