The Walking Dead has made a lot of big mistakes over the years, but the biggest mistake in the franchise history happened exactly one decade ago on Oct. 23, 2016.
The Walking Dead season 7 premiere, "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be," is all I need to say for Walking Dead fans around the world to know exactly what I'm referring to. That's the episode when Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) were killed by the new villain, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). And, fans around the world mourned the loss of one of the best characters in the show's history.
First of all, it's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since Glenn died. I remember it like yesterday. It's a core memory, basically, for so many fans of The Walking Dead. In honor of the 10-year anniversary, I just rewatched the episode, and it still hits almost as hard as it did the first time.
After all this time, there's still no debate that this was the worst mistake in the show's history for a few reasons.
Glenn represented goodness in a cold world
Glenn was the one character in The Walking Dead that represented a future. His youthful exuberance and positive outlook had obviously been shaken by the time we get to season 7, but he was still a symbol to Walking Dead fans.
Glenn and Maggie's relationship was one that was going to last the test of time, and it gave some fans a little romance and caring vibes in a world full of death and destruction. That all changed in the season 7 premiere when Negan bashed Glenn's head in while his wife watched in absolute horror.
While I don't think there are any characters who are above being killed off in The Walking Dead, I don't think Glenn should have gone out the way that he did. For me, Glenn was like one of the Stark kids in Game of Thrones. He should have been one of the characters who lasted the full series, along with his wife, Maggie (Lauren Cohan), and child.
I know Glenn dies in Robert Kirkman's comics in a similar way. It's needlessly brutal, in my opinion. We'd seen so many gruesome deaths in The Walking Dead by that point, but choosing shock value and theatrics over theme and substance is the most egregious part of this entire situation. Are you trying to torture your audience? Some things need to be handled with a little more tact and grace, in my opinion.
The Walking Dead's ratings took a massive dive after Glenn was killed off
I know that I'm not alone in my feelings about Glenn's death. About five million fans of The Walking Dead agree with me, and I know that because they stopped watching the series after the season 7 premiere.
It's been well reported at this point, but I'll share it again for those in the back. According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Walking Dead season 7 premiere was watched by 17 million viewers the night it aired. By the end of season 7, the finale only pulled a little more than 11 million viewers. It basically lost five million viewers overnight.
I know there are a lot of fans who think that The Walking Dead ratings decline is not because of Glenn's death, but the numbers are the numbers. If Glenn wasn't the exact reason fans left, it was the last straw for many fans who were tired of the antics, lack of solid story, and shock value.
We all love a good twist! We all love a good, heartbreaking character death. We invested so much time in the series by that point, and around season 5, the show seemed to start to lose its way. It just started to feel different, and Glenn's death was the nail in the coffin for a lot of fans.
Now, you can also argue that there have been more heartbreaking deaths and mistakes in The Walking Dead. I can think of a few, including Carl, played by Chandler Riggs, and Beth, played by Emily Kinney. There's a justification, I think, for Beth's death, but Carl's death? How did that happen? He was the future of the franchise, and the show threw it all away.
Still, Glenn's death is more impactful, and it shaped the future of the series and franchise for years to come. His death basically sparked its own spinoff in The Walking Dead: Dead City. Now, imagine if they just kept Glenn alive. That's the future we should have had, but it didn't happen.
It's always weird celebrating these Walking Dead anniversaries, but if anything, it's a good reminder that's probably been a long time since your last rewatch of The Walking Dead, which means it's a good time to start again!
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