The Walking Dead: Andrew Lincoln regrets the “B-movie gorefest” of Glenn’s death

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Now that he’s left The Walking Dead TV show and pivoted into a trilogy of Rick Grimes movies, Andrew Lincoln has an opportunity to reflect on his time in AMC’s flagship zombie drama. There’s one thing he’s not sure was right: the way Glenn exited the show in the show in the season 7 premiere.

After a whole summer of ‘Who did Negan kill?’ speculation, which AMC egged on by filming every possible outcome on location, Steven Yeun’s fan favourite Glenn met a gruesome end. His head was caved in by Negan’s baseball bat, one of his eyes lolloped out of its socket, and he muttered “Maggie… I’ll find you” before biting the bullet for good.

Now, speaking to The New York Times, Andrew Lincoln has admitted that he wasn’t overly fond of the way that went down. Here’s what he said:

“I regret the manner in which it happened. We’ve been able to terrify people in film for 100 years without having to show an eyeball. When that happens, it diminishes what we’re trying to make, which in my mind’s eye is a family drama set in hell. It’s not a sort of B-movie gorefest.”

The interviewer then mentioned that The Walking Dead is often extreme in its portrayal violence, prompting Lincoln to add:

“It is from time to time, with the zombies and the action sequences. I don’t discredit that. It’s part of the thrills and spills of the show. But when we’re dealing with losing somebody — and a very brutal, human kind of death — I think it’s just taste. My taste is, I think it would be more disturbing just keeping the camera on Maggie’s face [Glenn’s wife, played by Lauren Cohan]. And maybe that’s why I want to direct, because I want to make what I’ve been filming in my head.”

Of course, Lincoln makes a valid point there: he didn’t direct the episode, so he isn’t the one to blame from Glenn’s demised and shouldn’t really be feeling regret over it. But still, it’s interesting to hear his thoughts on one of the show’s most talked-about moments.

The whole New York Times interview can be found here. And we’ll bring you more news on The Walking Dead as we hear it.