Warning: There are massive spoilers ahead from "The Walking Dead" season seven premiere.
Wow. Did you see this coming "The Walking Dead" fans?
The season seven premiere of AMC's hit show finally answered the question fans have been waiting to find out for months — who did Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) kill off in the season six cliffhanger finale?
The answer wasn't as clear-cut as fans may have expected. The series took an unexpected departure from the comics surprising fans with multiple deaths in the premiere.
This is your last chance to head back before spoilers!
When we last saw Rick, a number of his group were kidnapped by the Saviors, another group of survivors led by Negan, a foul-mouthed, bat-wielding no-nonsense type of guy.
Negan wasn't happy with them for killing off a bunch of his men throughout season six. In response, Negan decided to take out one of Rick's in a sinister game of eeny, meeny, miney, mo.
As we soon learned, it was Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) who received the brutal beating.
Fans immediately broke out in response on Twitter:
—Sgt. Abraham Ford (@BAMFAbrahamFord) October 24, 2016—Daryl Dixon (@ImmortalDixon) October 24, 2016—LUST FOR LIFE (@NyshellLaSheyxo) October 24, 2016Some were guessing that Abraham's time may be coming. In the comics, Abraham was gone before Rick's group ever met up with Negan. He was killed by an arrow through the eye in issue #98 of the popular comic series.
Later on the series' aftershow, "The Talking Dead," Cudlitz himself said he "was on borrowed time" referencing the fact that Denise took his death graciously on the show last season.
"I knew I had sort of gone beyond where he was in the graphic novel," said Cudlitz. "I knew that Mr. Kirkman had always said he was not happy with how he took Abraham out in the graphic novel so I was curious to see where we'd go from there."
While it looked like his days may have been numbered, it made sense for Negan to kill off Abraham since he physically appeared to be the Savior's biggest threat. If I were Negan, I'd want to try and take out who I thought was Rick's right hand man, something that was hinted at in the first released clip for the season.
In the comics, Glenn famously gets the bat from Lucille in issue #100 of the series. Since some of the speech Negan gave nearly mirrored the one that resulted in Glenn's death, many fans were initially relieved to find out the fan favorite was safe from harm.
—Betsy (@BitzyBetsy) October 24, 2016—Whit Nic (@whithappens6) October 24, 2016
However, as we soon found out, it wasn't just one of our survivors who felt the vengeance of Negan's blood-thirsty vampire bat, Lucille.
Nope. "The Walking Dead" killed off two of the show's long-time characters in the season seven premiere. And that second victim was none other than Glenn (Steven Yuen) himself.
Negan wasted no time in another game of eeny, meeny this time. He just went right for it.
The death came as a big surprise to many and fans lost it.
—Walking Dead Fans (@WalkingDeadLife) October 24, 2016—Austin Null (@AustinNull) October 24, 2016—Spring-Heeled Candy (@iamcandydax) October 24, 2016—Hope Gloria Mosby (@GloriaMosby) October 24, 2016—Dylan (@DylansFreshTake) October 24, 2016—TWD Support Group (@TWDSupportGroup) October 24, 2016—Chantal Lauren (@BlondieeWood) October 24, 2016—MaKayla☥ (@MKaylaKate) October 24, 2016—Walking Dead Fans (@WalkingDeadLife) October 24, 2016
Yeun opened up about his character's legacy on "The Talking Dead" after the premiere.
"I think Glenn died in a very Glenn way. That's what my wife Jo said. He died in such a Glenn way, which is perfect," Yeun said. "Still not thinking about himself."
What did you think of the show's big twist? Did it make up for the season six cliffhanger finale?
We'll have more on the episode coming later tonight and tomorrow afternoon after a conference call with episode director and executive producer Greg Nicotero.
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