Warning: The following contains spoilers for last night's episode of "The Walking Dead" and "The Walking Dead" comic book.
I briefly touched on the panic attack fans experienced during the season five finale of AMC's "The Walking Dead" when we all thought Glenn was going to get got by Nicholas. Last night's episode "Thank You" was a bit more definitive with Glenn visibly being torn to pieces by zombies.
...Or was he?
In newly minted Jon Snow fashion, the Internet instantly exploded with theories that Glenn was actually still alive somehow. Admittedly, he is a fan-favorite character so working some presto magic to help him escape would make sense (though it would completely undermine the drama and tension of the show). But is that the case? EW's Dalton Ross, a "Walking Dead" aficionado, thinks so.
"While it seems practically impossible for Glenn to escape this situation alive, the whole moment (and in some ways, episode) seems to belong to Nicholas," Ross wrote. "He is the one we see all episode dealing with the past tragedy he led his team on and coming to grips with that. He is the one that has to kill one of his former Alexandrians that turned because of his own incompetence and cowardice. He is the one who thanks Glenn for showing him a better side of himself before the end, and he is the one who ultimately sacrifices himself (perhaps) so the zombies can feast on him instead of Glenn. If Glenn is going to die, it will be his moment and his moment alone, not as part of another character's arc."
Additionally, fans of the source material (Double Spoiler Alert!!!) are surely familiar with Glenn's real death at the hands of infamous villain Negan. All signs point to Negan showing up at season's end, which would mean Glenn's hard-hitting death is still to come. Why trade out that shocking, powerful and iconic scene for a much less meaningful demise?
As has become customary in these types of situations, showrunner Scott M. Gimple provided "Talking Dead" host Chris Hardwick with a statement attempting to convey the genuine finality of last night's episode. Clever misdirection or heartfelt admission? You decide.
"Dear fans of The Walking Dead, this is a hard story to tell and when we were planning to tell we knew our friends at the Talking Dead would be talking to you about it and knowing you'd all be talking, and feeling and commiserating, I knew we should say something about it lest our silence say something we didn't mean to say or not say. So I'll say this: In some way, we will see Glenn, some version of Glenn or parts of Glenn again, either in flashback or in the current story to help complete the story."
What do you think, Dead-Heads? Is Glenn really zombie chow? Let us know in the comments section below!
