Glen Rhee, is he alive or dead? (Photo : Screenshot from AMC's The Walking Dead)
It's tough being a fan of AMC's The Walking Dead. For one, the characters you've invested a lot of feels in can die at any moment (see Lori, Tyrese, Andrea, Beth, and Noah), and more often than not, they do so completely out of left field.
If you've already seen the third episode of Season 6 of the popular zombie action melodrama, then you're here reading this for a reason. Your heart has been broken, your jaw completely shattered on the floor.
Everyone's favorite pizza delivery guy has croaked (yes, that guy) and it's all thanks to the powers that be who control this darned thing we call a TV show. He's been with us since the beginning, and along with Rick and Carl, make up the show's oldest surviving cast members.
Or has he? Has Glen Rhee really been served up for zombie supper? Here are 8 reasons why Glen is NOT dead (yet).
#1 Nicholas clearly lands on top of Glen as they take a tumble
There is a theory going around that maybe Glen found a way to keep Nicholas on top of him to keep the zombie horde satiated and avoid any of his limbs from taking a bite by finding solace under the nearby dumpster, however unlikely it may seem.
The way the scene played out clearly showed Glen possibly pulling a lifeless Nicholas (he shot himself in the head) over his chest.
#2 No one saw Glen die
Usually, when a member of the cast dies, there is someone there to witness it.
The only other time a significant character died when no one was watching was back in Season 2 with Sophia. With the cast not knowing the whereabouts of the missing Sophia, who turned out to be a zombie in the finale, they spent the rest of the season in search of her. Will they do the same for Glen?
No one saw Glen die. The last to come in contact with him were Michonne and that Dr. Dre guy from Straight Outta Compton. If Glen were missing, he would certainly not be presumed dead. The others will go out looking for him, especially wife Maggie.
If the zombie horde did get to Glen, they would have eaten every last morsel of his pizza-filled body, leaving Maggie searching for Glen forever, and without closure. Don't think the writers would leave that big of a loophole in the story.
#3 IMDB credits Steven Yeun until the final episode of the current season
Yes, IMDB credits regular actors on TV series on all episodes of a current season until such time that the character has died, but as of now, IMDB has not updated their listing and still clearly credits Steven Yeun all the way up until episode 6.16 which is scheduled to air next year.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3081796/
#4 Steven Yeun is seen filming more episodes late in the season with a character who has not made his appearance yet (Tom Payne)
Tom Payne is set to play Paul Monroe (more commonly known as Jesus) and will make his debut later on in the season, but more importantly, there are promotional photos showing Steven Yeun in full costume in scenes with Payne's character.
This gives a ray of hope for Glen's fans that maybe, just maybe, he's alive after all. Perhaps the show's writers are merely pulling a Jon Snow on us (who I'm banking on making his return to Game of Thrones just as epic).
#5 Glen is yet to appear in a crucial scene in the show's comic book storyline
A famous scene which requires Glen, another human, and a barbed-wire wrapped baseball bat has yet to play out on the show (comic book fans know). I can't imagine that scene playing out any other way although it is conceivable that Daryl could take his place.
The show has replaced characters with others in different positions and them doing so again certainly would not shock, but still, crossing fingers Glen gets to play this one out. The show owes the character a better send off than the one he get earlier.
#6 Steven Yeun has no comment
Nothing on Steven Yeun's Twitter so far, despite the millions of mentions he's probably getting.
#7 No Steven Yeun on the Talking Dead
Every episode of The Walking Dead is followed by a talk show segment called Talking Dead, and each time a character is killed off, that character's actor/actress has appeared on Talking Dead to discuss how their character died -- not this time though.
Yeun was noticeably absent from the talk show and his character Glen was not credited among the deceased. Instead, they open the show with doubts about Glen's apparent demise.
#8 The episode's title is "Thank You"
All signs early on in the episode pointed to Glen's downfall.
The episode opening with Glen running through the woods, the moment Glen knelt down and clutched Hershel's pocket watch, the faith Glen put in Nicholas and the acknowledgement from Glen that he was 'doing this for his wife' all played a role in building up to the final scenes of the episode which were meant to take the audience on an emotional rollercoaster.
Even a reference to the earliest episodes of the series, where Glen calls Rick a 'dumbass' is given homage here. "Good luck, dumbass," are Glen's supposed final words to Rick.
'Thank You' could mean a lot of things. It could mean a thank you for Glen's character throughout the years as he apparently bites the dust.
Or it could mean a thank you to Nicholas whose body may have saved Glen from being eaten by zombies. Who knows?
Final word
I could be mistaken and Glen could really be dead, but I don't think it would be a good send off for one of the show's most beloved characters. The showrunners owe Glen a better exit than that.
The show's main man, Scott Gimple addressed Glen's fate on Talking Dead after the episode.
"Dear fans of The Walking Dead, this is a hard story to tell and when we were planning to tell we knew our friends at the Talking Dead would be talking to you about it and knowing you'd all be talking, and feeling and commiserating, I knew we should say something about it lest our silence say something we didn't mean to say or not say," read the statement.
"So I'll say this: In some way, we will see Glenn, some version of Glenn or parts of Glenn again, either in flashback or in the current story to help complete the story."
Keyphrase: ...or in the current story.
The next episode appears to be Morgan-centric, so I don't think we'll get answers right away, but we will in time.
Until then, The Walking Dead has once again ripped our hearts out of our chests and it was magnificent.
