The Walking Dead: Who was really responsible for Glenn’s death?

The season seven premiere episode of The Walking Dead finally revealed who was killed by the cliffhanger the previous episode left us on. This episode was the Negan line-up scene where he promised someone would die. Fans of the comic story knew Glenn was a possibility since this was his comic death. But, when it was revealed that it was Abraham who was “Lucilled,” as sad as it was, fans of Glenn breathed a sigh of relief.

A sigh that came a bit too soon as he would be the next victim. After Abraham was bludgeoned Abraham, he began taunting the group with his “dirty girl,” Lucille, covered in the blood and brains of his victim. Daryl couldn’t contain himself any longer and lunged at Negan, punching him in the face.

This action sees Negan reminding the group that there are consequences and punishment for resistance. He then slams Lucille down on Glenn. No one could believe it. Not the characters in the line-up or the viewers watching from their homes. A collective gasp echoed through the fandom.

The Walking Dead, who is responsible for Glenn’s death?

Fast forward to season 11, and Maggie still holds a grudge against Negan for Glenn’s death. Understandable, but why doesn’t she also hold Daryl responsible. Even I, a huge Daryl Dixon fan, can begrudgingly say it’s partially his fault. Sure, there have been arguments that Negan may have planned all along to kill Glenn, but as he said, he is a man of his word. And, Negan may be a lot of things, but he does hold to his word.

Basically, it was Negan and Daryl’s fault that Glenn died. But, hold on a minute.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, comic book creator Robert Kirkman has made some pretty shocking remarks.  We all know he is the one who killed Glenn in issue 100 of the comics. This story is the source material for the series, although it doesn’t always follow to the letter.

Kirkman stated:

"It’s just that there’s a lot of source material that comes from Glenn’s death in the comics. At the end of the day, we were like, pulling the thread on this sweather just pulls too many things apart and it’s too difficult to get back on that trajectory without that death.”"

So, it was Kirkman who was ultimately responsible for Glenn’s death!

He shared that Glenn’s death was difficult as he knew the actor playing the character.

"Glenn was the first death in the comic that happened after the person was cast. Abraham died in the comic book before Cudlitz had ever been cast as Abraham."

Well, whoever’s fault it was, it was a sad thing to watch both Abraham and Glenn die in that manner, even though we knew it was coming. Both characters would have gone on to do some amazing things. It would have been interesting to see what Abraham thought of Alpha.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC on February 20, 2022.