Gene Page
Viewers weren’t the only ones sad to see Steven Yeun’s character, Glenn Rhee, killed off “The Walking Dead.”
The Post spoke to Greg Nicotero, the special makeup effects creator and executive producer for the beloved zombie apocalypse series. He also directed the episode in which Glenn meets his gruesome fate and shared that Rhee’s death was amongst the hardest to accept.
Steven Yeun as Glenn in “The Walking Dead.”AMC
Greg Nicotero at San Diego Comic-Con 2024.Getty Images for IMDb
“The Walking Dead” lasted for 11 seasons on AMC from 2010-2022 and sparked several spinoffs that Nicotero has also worked on — so, that’s a lot of death and blood.
He provided The Post with behind-the-scenes photographs of how he made the gory kill scene look realistic with prosthetics and makeup — but, warning, these pics (keep scrolling) aren’t for the faint of heart.
Greg Nicotero and Steven Yeun.Jamie McCarthy
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan.Gene Page/AMC
Admitting it’s “hard” to say goodbye to the characters and actors who played them, Nicotero — who was in charge of making the gruesome and always violent scenes come to life — told The Post, “It was always really very dramatic when we knew that any of them were going to die,” adding that the cast would come together for “death dinners,” which were designed as “little celebrations of each of the characters” when they met their haunting demise.
Glenn.Gene Page/AMC
“We would do a death dinner and half the time we would do them at my house and the cast would come over and we would have a really nice dinner,” he shared. “And then everybody would sort of talk about what they loved about working with that person. So, it was a celebration.”
When asked which actor he found particularly hard to let go, one person came to his mind.
“I think Steven Yeun,” Nicotero responded.
Steven Yeun’s BTS makeup.Greg Nicotero/Instagram
Steven Yeun’s BTS makeup.Greg Nicotero/Instagram
Yeun played Glenn in “The Walking Dead” from 2010 to 2016 until his character was killed off in the Season 7 premiere episode, titled “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be,” directed by Nicotero.
“Glenn, that’s for sure,” he said when questioned which character he had always rooted for.
“You know, and the irony was I directed that episode,” Nicotero recalled.
Glenn’s makeup for death scene.Greg Nicotero
Steven Yeun.AMC
“I remember reading that moment in the comic book and just finding it just absolutely heartbreaking. And when we got to that part in the series,” he continued. “It was the introduction to Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) — and it was really, it was really rough. We, you know, sort of followed the path of the graphic novel.”
Nicotero “resisted that a little bit,” admitting, “There were times along the way where we had sort of explored the idea of veering away from the comic book and doing something a little different.”
He went on to explain that “it’s always difficult to kill a character on a show like that because the audience invests in them.”
Steven Yeun’s gruesome and bloody death scene.Greg Nicotero
Glenn’s killer, Negan.Gene Page/AMC
But he knew the man behind the character. “Glenn, that was really a rough one. And, you know, right on the heels of Abraham. And the senselessness of it, I think, was just what was so shocking,” he told The Post.
Negan executed Glenn by bashing his head in with his trademark weapon, a barbed wire-laced bat named Lucille, just to teach Norman Reedus’ character, Daryl Dixon, a lesson after his outburst.
The scene was beyond gory and featured imagery that viewers will never forget. Glenn’s bashed-in, bloodied face came courtesy of Nicotero’s special makeup effects skills that made him a hot ticket in Hollywood.
Glenn’s final scene.Greg Nicotero
Glenn’s murder was “essential” despite being controversial with fans, according to “The Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman.
“It’s just that there’s a lot of material that comes from Glenn’s death in the comics,” Kirkman said in 2016, per Entertainment Weekly. “And while we do try to change things up to keep things interesting for the audience, and for me, this is one that there’s so much that comes from Rick, there’s so much with Negan, because that character is someone that he killed, and definitely Maggie is someone that kind of gets put on the trajectory that affects a great number of stories and a great number of characters moving forward. So it was kind of essential that that part of the scene at least remained intact, unfortunately.”
Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), Glenn (Steven Yeun).Gene Page/AMC
“The Walking Dead” cast and crew.FilmMagic
Like Nicotero, Kirkman also found it hard to say goodbye to the characters and people who played them.
“I just push through it and stay the course, but I do find myself very hesitant to do character deaths on the show. Especially these days, just because you miss these people and it’s just not a fun process,” he explained. “But it’s something that we all agree the story needs, and it definitely makes the show better and it makes things heightened and cool. It’s tough but we gotta do what we gotta do.”
While “The Walking Dead” aired its last episode on Nov. 20, 2022, fans love the Norman Reedus-led spinoff, “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon.”
Season 2 airs on AMC Sundays at 9 p.m. ET, and Season 3 production has already kicked off in Spain.
