The Walking Dead: Why Negan Killed Abraham (& Not Just Glenn)

Here’s why Negan had to kill Glenn (Steven Yuen) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) in The Walking Dead. The season 6 finale set up a big comic moment by finally introducing Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and having the Saviors capture Rick’s group. The Saviors lined up all of Rick’s people and forced them to listen to Negan, as he explained that he was now in control of them. Negan said that to punish them for their actions against the Saviors and to prove his point, he would have to kill one of Rick’s people. The cliffhanger ending left viewers wondering who Negan’s choice would be.

In the comics, it was Glenn who Negan bludgeoned to death with his baseball bat, Lucille. The Walking Dead season 7 premiere deviated from this by having Negan execute Abraham instead. Just when it seemed like the bloodshed was over, Daryl (Norman Reedus) had an outburst of anger, leading Negan to decide that a second victim was called for. This time, Negan picked Glenn and gave the character a comic book accurate death.

The TV show has been known to go in its own direction in the past, but Glenn had to die in The Walking Dead because the effect he had the characters couldn’t be replicated by replacing him with a different character. This has been explained by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman in the past. So why did The Walking Dead have to kill Glenn and Abraham, when just one was enough for the comics? This happened because viewers were expecting Glenn to die, and the producers needed to subvert that expectation enough to justify the cliffhanger ending from the previous season.

Glenn’s death on its own still would have shaped the stories of Rick and Maggie, but it wouldn’t have been very surprising, considering that fans were naturally worried that the show would follow the comics by killing Glenn. A big twist was needed to ensure that this moment was as shocking as it needed to be. The deaths of Glenn and Abraham was a huge turning point in the show, as it set up the war with the Saviors. In fact, the impact it had was still being as felt as recently as season 10, with Daryl still struggling to tolerate Negan over the murders of Glenn and Abraham.

What happened in The Walking Dead season 7 premiere was one of the most controversial and emotionally meaningful scenes in the history of the AMC series. Some, including Michael Cudlitz, have felt that it was a bit much for The Walking Dead to kill two characters in just one episode, but the effect it had on the show and the characters can’t be denied. As gruesome as it was, it altered the courses of several characters, and by killing Abraham as well, The Walking Dead opened up new story arcs for the people that were close to him, such as Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Rosita (Christian Serratos).

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