The Walking Dead creator explains why [SPOILER] had to die in season 7

While The Walking Dead season 7 gets into its stride, people are still reeling from the events of that opening episode. Now, creator Robert Kirkman explains why certain skulls had to be cracked. Then sort of mushed into a fine paste.

Massive spoilers obviously, so here's a GIF to avoid you seeing anything accidentally.

Despite the initial fakeout killing of Abraham, Glenn - who was Negan's original victim in the comics - also died. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly Kirkman explained that, “it’s just that there’s a lot of material that comes from Glenn’s death in the comics.” And while trying to change up the TV show compared to the comics helps to keep things fresh, he says that "so much comes from Rick, so much with Negan, because that character is someone that [Negan] killed, and definitely Maggie is someone that kind of gets put on the trajectory that affects a great number of stories and a great number of characters moving forward. So it was kind of essential that that part of the scene at least remained intact, unfortunately.”

Whether you like it or not Glenn has to die because there's just too much narratively hinging on it. Not that the creative team didn't try to do something different according to Kirkman: "We did discuss options [but] at the end of the day, we were like, pulling the thread on this sweater just pulls too many things apart and it’s too difficult to get back on that trajectory without that death.”

For a full breakdown of the episode, check out our The Walking Dead S7.01 review here.

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.