Television has seldom been as daring or as merciless as The Walking Dead. For 11 seasons, the hit zombie series drew viewers into a universe where peril waited at every turn, where the living could be as menacing as the dead, and where no character, however cherished, was promised a future. Audiences learned to steel themselves for heartbreak very early on because they knew that at any moment, the story could twist in the most devastating way, snatching away someone they had grown to love.
Yet even within a show defined by loss, fear, and unpredictability, some moments are etched into memory more vividly than others. We're talking moments so brutal, so emotionally charged, that they left an indelible mark on viewers. When thinking about these scenes, there's one in particular that stands out. In fact, it's considered by many to be the most controversial moment in the series’ history.
Who remembers the infamous Glen and Negan scene in the season 7 premiere? It's pretty hard to erase from your memory. Even many years later, the tension, the horror, and the heartbreak linger like a scar. The scene begins with Negan, the show’s new terrifying antagonist, asserting his dominance over Rick’s group in a chilling display of control.
Kneeling before him, the survivors are forced to confront their helplessness as Negan toys with them. After a brief, agonizing game of "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe," Negan kills Abraham first before stepping over to Glenn and delivering another brutal death. The impact of the scene is immediate and devastating. Not just for the characters onscreen, but for viewers who had grown attached to Glenn and the others. Rick's group would then have to deal with Negan and his Saviors crew going forward.
Overall, the Glenn and Negan scene still sparks conversation, debate, and reflection to this day. And now, in a candid conversation, Walking Dead director Greg Nicotero reflects on that unforgettable moment. Nicotero was a recent guest on The Brandon Davis Show, where he was asked whether he and the rest of the show's creative team had ever considered making another character Negan's victim besides Glenn.
He responded by saying that they hadn't thought about anyone else. In other words, Glenn was always intended to be the focus. However, Nicotero also shared a conversation he had later with season 1 showrunner Frank Darabont. Darabont had revealed to him his personal thoughts on the scene, admitting that he probably wouldn’t have handled Glenn’s death in the same way, as it didn’t align with his original vision for the show.
"It’s really funny because Frank Darabont and I talked about that later, and his feeling about that was, ‘Well, I probably wouldn’t have done that on the show,’ because it wasn’t what his view of The Walking Dead would have been, and it definitely was very controversial."
Nicotero then went on to talk about how he first found out about Glenn's death in the comics. He recalled being at one of the comic cons when issue 100 was released, and sitting at a breakfast with Robert Kirkman and Steven Yeun. Yeun had asked him, “You haven’t seen it yet, have you?” The panel depicting Glenn calling out Maggie’s name as he dies was then shown to Nicotero. He couldn't believe that's how Glenn would meet his end, and it affected him personally.
Later in the interview, Nicotero then goes on to share his thoughts on how audiences received the Glen and Negan scene. As mentioned earlier, the scene is really controversial. However, Nicotero told Davis that he believes the intense reactions were inevitable because fans had developed a deep emotional connection to Glenn. It didn't matter how much of the violence had been shown or even if some frames had been cut. Nicotero believed the emotional impact would have remained powerful either way because of the fans' love for Glenn.
"So, you know, maybe there was a version where we had shown less of that and it would have been less impactful and disturbed less people. But I still think that the outcome was Glenn was killed in a horrifically, violent way. Whether how much of it we showed or didn’t show, I still think people would have reacted because they loved the character. They loved him."
To wrap his thoughts on the whole Glenn and Negan scene, Nicotero then goes on to talk about how happy he was to see it parodied by Dave Chappelle on Saturday Night Live. He shared with Davis that he had attended one of Chappelle's comedy shows and thanked him in person. He told Chappelle that he was honored by how faithfully he had recreated the frames and shots from the original scene.
Below, we shared Nicotero's full interview on The Brandon Davis Show!