The gruesome deaths in The Walking Dead Season 7 premiere have upset quite a number of fans, as both Glenn and Abraham bid adieu before the hour was up. Some fans are devastated, and they have vowed not to watch the show anymore, something that has been labelled "unfortunate" by executive producer Greg Nicotero.
Saying the show still has a lot to offer, Nicotero told reporters during a conference call on Monday that in a way he was happy with the way viewers have reacted.
"If we killed someone and [the audience was] just like, 'OK, well, no big deal, I'm gonna go have a bagel,' then that means that we haven't done something to connect our people to the characters," he said, according to TVLine.
The showrunner also justified killing two main characters, saying the second death was necessary to take the story forward in a whole new direction.
"[That second murder is] really about Negan laying down the law. So [it] has a lot to do with Rick's future story, Maggie's future story and certainly Daryl's future story. Daryl was the one who launched himself at Negan," he said.
Glenn and Abraham are dead, but it seems they won't be the last to say goodbye this season. A clip doing the rounds shows Maggie too getting beaten to death by Negan, but it is not immediately known if this will be aired, considering the show has received a lot of negative feedback for the amount of gore featured in the premiere. Another reason why the show might hesitate to go ahead with Maggie's death is because she is pregnant, and the show might refrain from brutally killing a pregnant woman.
The Walking Dead airs Sundays on AMC.
