After the midseason finale of "The Walking Dead" ended with the death of Beth, a lot of fans presumed that producers of the zombie apocalypse would wait a bit before they decided to kill off yet another fan favourite.
So, it came as a surprise when the grave that many believed was being dug for Beth in the midseason premiere ended up housing Tyreese, the character essayed by Chad L. Coleman.
Tyreese decided to give up the fight after a zombie bit him, and although the character could have survived with amputation, he decides to stop paying what he called "the high cost of living".
Sadly death, too, did not come easy for Tyreese, who started hallucinating several fan favourites such as Beth, Bob, Martin, Lizzie, Mika and the Governor, who had all passed on. Although Rick, Michonne, and Glenn get back and manage to amputate Tyreese's arm, he dies surrounded by the images of his dead friends.
Tyreese's death, which followed Beth's, has already upset a lot of fans, but executive producer and the episode's director Greg Nicotero told Variety that it was time for the character to go.
Explaining his decision to kill off the character, Nicotero said: "Ever since the beginning of season four we've noticed that Tyreese was struggling. He's standing at the fence talking to his girlfriend and he says, 'Listen I don't like killing (walkers) at the fence anymore.' He goes out and the helicopter falls through the Big Spot roof and he comes back and says, 'I don't like killing them in here either.'
"He's clearly having some issues. Then his girlfriend is murdered and her body's burned up, and two little girls die. So, Tyreese's real reason for pushing so hard to survive was for the baby, for Judith. Now that he's reunited with Rick… I think it's a world where he's having a hard time accepting that he would want to live there."
Tyreese's death is going to have an adverse effect on the rest of the gang, and Coleman told TVLine that the next few episodes will see Sasha grappling with the reality that her brother is no more.
Meanwhile, there is a possibility of more deaths as the season moves forward, as actor Andrew Lincoln previously said that episodes 9 and 10 are brutal. The synopsis of the next episode titled "Them" states: "The group feels beaten after living life on the road, but must continue to trudge along in spite of the changes they have incurred."
