Believe it or not, it's been four years since The Walking Dead featured the brutal and graphic murders of fan-favourite characters Abraham and Glenn at the hands of Negan. While Glenn's demise was true to the source material, Abraham's was a genuine shock, and despite it all being very comic accurate, it alienated a lot of viewers and led to a sudden, and continued, drop in ratings.
During a recent appearance on the Talk Dead to Me podcast (via Huffington Post), Abraham actor Michael Cudlitz shared his thoughts on the way the deaths of both characters were handled.
"I always think it was a bridge too far, personally. I thought it was too much," he explained. "Either one of us should have lived a little bit longer because I think it was, people were very affected by it. They said, ‘Oh, my gosh, it was the most graphic brutal deaths. It was murder porn.’ All this stuff."
"The fact that I think you loved Abraham and Glenn so much as an audience, that’s what makes it more brutal. And you sort of think, ‘Oh, OK. Oh, my gosh. It was Abraham. We’re sad that it was Abraham, but thank God it wasn’t Glenn.’ And, ‘OK. Oh, my gosh. OK.’ And, ‘Oh, my God. It’s Glenn, too! What are you doing to me?’ I think it’s the one-two punch that was maybe a little too much."
"I think you want to start the season with a little bit more of a hug than a punch to the face or throat," Cudlitz concluded, pointing out what many fans have argued is a major issue with the AMC series.
Were these brutal death scenes the straw that broke the camel's back for you as well?