Glenn’s death was a tragic moment for The Walking Dead, and one star believes that it changed the show forever. His death was a direct adaptation of the original comics, and it occurred in season 7, episode 1, “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be”. After Daryl (Norman Reedus) antagonizes Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), the villain elects to force him to pay by killing Glenn (Steven Yeun). The death is extremely brutal, as Negan uses his beloved bat, Lucille, to slowly beat Glenn in front of his friends.

While Glenn’s death was necessary, Ross Marquand (Aaron) believes that it likely hurt the show’s viewership. At the Ross Marquand Spotlight Panel at AwesomeCon, ScreenRant‘s Joe Deckelmeier served as the moderator and asked Marquand about his perspective of that horrifying scene. He described it as a “very sad” scene that was more devastating on-screen than during filming. Despite the differences, he did find the need to ask Yeun to stop moving his head during the production, because Glenn’s dangling eye was nauseating in person. Check out his quote below:

I will say that was the episode that we lost a lot of fans, I think, just from the sheer gore. It was so visceral and so intense that I think a lot of people were like, “I’m out. I can’t do it anymore.” I was very sad, because I love working with Steve Yeun, and I loved working with Michael [Cudlitz].

But I’ll be honest, viewing him on the TV screen several months later with Sonequa Martin-Green and her husband, we had much more of a physical reaction than we did watching his death in real [time]. Obviously, it’s terrible. You’ve got all the gore and the blood, and everything’s pouring out of his head. But in between takes, as I’m sure you all remember, the eyeball was just dangling. I remember it looked like those paddle balls.

His eyeball was bouncing around as he was talking. It was like, “What are you going to do after this?” “I’ve got a role on Voltron, I think I’m gonna do some voiceover work…” And I was like, “Oh, cool. Can you just stop moving your head for a second? I’m going to throw up.” It looked so disgusting, and that’s a credit to the special effects team. They literally make all of these terrible moments look real, from the zombies on down to the bludgeons.

It’s a real credit to those craftsmen for making it so believable, but truly it wasn’t as effective for us as actors until we watched it on the screen. We’re like, “Oh, my God…” I think all of us, audience members and cast alike, were just blown away by how sad it was.

What Glenn’s Death Meant To The Walking Dead

Glenn’s Death Hurt The Walking Dead

Marquand is right that the show lost viewership after Glenn’s death, and the difference was stark. The season 7 premiere reportedly drew 17 million viewers, the second-highest premiere in the show’s history, but the season finale painted a darker picture, as it drew just 11 million, the fifth-highest finale in the show’s history. The next premiere drew just 11.4 million viewers and concluded with eight million, and the rest of the show would see the decline continue. After Glenn’s death, the series never recovered, which is why The Walking Dead ended with season 11, which drew just 2 million viewers.

Yeun has since gone on to serve as Mark Grayson in Prime Video’s Invincible, where his character fought Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Conquest.

15 million viewers lost interest in the series over time, which is a devastating result for any show, and Glenn’s death directly contributed to that. He was a beloved character who had a strong relationship with every member of The Walking Dead‘s cast, so losing Glenn meant losing essential dynamics. The series may have succeeded in turning Negan into a devastating villain, but the brutal death simply disturbed the viewers that the show needed to retain. As incredible as the special effects were, it had a severely negative long-term impact on The Walking Dead‘s run.

Our Take On The Legacy Of Glenn’s Death

It Changed The Walking Dead Forever

The show was attempting to honor the comics by featuring a surprising, yet effective death of one of its most beloved stars. Unfortunately, it failed to consider that audiences would not have much love for such a brutal display, which eventually made them tune out. Rather than successfully turning Negan into a hateable villain, akin to Game of Thrones‘ Joffrey or Gladiator‘s Commodus, it only succeeded in insulting Glenn’s memory. The scene was certainly devastating, but the gruesome special effects might have been a mistake for The Walking Dead.