WARNING: Spoilers for season 7 ahead.
So, our dear buddy Glenn didn’t make it through another season of AMC’s The Walking Dead (opens in new tab). But! That doesn’t necessarily mean that actor Steven Yeun is gone for good. As the TWD season 7 finale (opens in new tab) showed, the show is willing to portray events out of order if it suits the plot, and that’s led fans to speculate we could see Glenn via flashback, dream sequence, or some other similar narrative device in The Walking Dead season 8 (opens in new tab). And hey, showrunner Scott Gimple is down with the idea.
Speaking to TVLine (opens in new tab), Gimple said it was “certainly possible” that fans would get more time with Glenn. “I’d be silly to say it isn’t.” The current theory, which TVLine brought up to Gimple, was that Yeun could reappear to Maggie as she’s giving birth. That might not be in the cards though, at least not for awhile. “She might not be that close,” Gimple said. “Things have been moving pretty quickly, but not a lot of time has passed.”
Personally, I’m not a proponent of Glenn coming back in any form. Having him come back as a vision to give Maggie comfort sort of undermines how harsh and unforgiving the world of The Walking Dead is – not to mention we just saw that same trick with Sasha and Abraham. Plus, the eulogy given at the end of season 7 recounting how he saved Rick was a wonderful goodbye. The sooner we accept Glenn is gone, the sooner the wound can heal.
What else is next for our zombie apocalypse survivors? Here’s one theory on what’s coming in The Walking Dead season 8 (opens in new tab).
Images: AMC