“The Walking Dead” star suffered just like fans of the horror series

“The Walking Dead” fans had to say goodbye to a crowd favorite twice – but so did the actors.

Over the course of its eleven seasons, “The Walking Dead” has played with the viewers' emotions more than once. At times, it was almost impossible to take a character to heart who would soon pass away. The fate of one character was particularly close to the audience's heart. For the actors on set, however, the farewell was no less emotional – because no one knew that the death was only faked.

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In the third episode of the sixth season, the return to Alexandria for Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Michonne (Danai Gurira) and their allies does not go according to plan. While most of the group manages to escape, Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Nicholas (Michael Traynor) are surrounded by a herd of walkers. Although they find shelter in a garbage container, Nicholas cannot bear the thought of being torn to pieces by the hungry undead. He decides to commit suicide, shoots himself in the head and drags Glenn down with him, where the zombies are still thirsting for human flesh.

With his face covered in blood, Glenn watches screaming as the walkers disembowel him – at least that's how it looks from the perspective, which leaves us shocked. For four episodes, “The Walking Dead” led us to believe that Glenn had died at this point. The name of actor Steven Yeun was even removed from the opening credits. Then, in the first few minutes of “The Wall,” there was a surprising twist: instead of Glenn, only Nicholas' body fell victim to the walkers. Protected by his remains, Glenn managed to get to safety under the container.

“The Walking Dead” star criticizes fake death

However, as Carl actor Chandler Riggs revealed, the “The Walking Dead” team left not only the fans but also the cast in the dark about this simulated stroke of fate – and without warning (via ComicBook.com):

“When I read the script for [diese Episode] Usually we were told very early when an actor was leaving. We ran it several episodes, sometimes even months in advance. This time we were not warned. It was Glenn with the dumpster. And the script doesn't say he's OK. It said Glenn is going to be torn apart. I remember reading it and thinking, 'What?!' Not yet! 'We're not there yet!'”

With the last sentence, Riggs refers to the fate that was already predetermined for Glenn in Robert Kirkman's comic book. In issue #100 (Volume 17), he is beaten to death by Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) with his baseball bat Lucille – just like in the series.

The Walking Dead 17: Fear Not

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Riggs is unable to say at this point whether fans would have reacted differently to the container scene if Glenn had actually died there. Nevertheless, he seems to be quite critical of the approach:

“It's a difficult thing because if you're a fan of a show and you support it, you don't want to be lied to or deceived. I feel like there were some cases where it wasn't really necessary to deceive and trick the fans.”

Scott M. Gimple, the person responsible for the “The Walking Dead” universe, apparently sees things differently. For him, Glenn's fake death was unavoidable in order to give viewers an insight into Maggie's (Lauren Cohan) emotional world:

“The story we told is based on uncertainty. When the characters leave the walls – in this case of Alexandria – […] they don't know what's happening. You have no idea. When they leave, it could be the last time you see them. And I think it was important […] that the audience shares the uncertainty with the characters […]. Maggie didn't know what happened to Glenn and I wanted the audience to be exactly where she was, to feel exactly the same thing.”

Understandable or not: We can only hope that we will be able to enjoy such an emotional rollercoaster ride in the current spin-offs “Daryl Dixon” and “Dead City”. Find out how well you can remember impressive death scenes from “The Walking Dead” apart from Glenn in the quiz:

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