On October 25th, 2015, The Walking Dead released one of its best episodes over the course of six seasons. Although it was one of the best episodes in the show’s history, it left its fan base in complete chaos. The episode, entitled “Thank You,” saw the potential death of Glenn Rhee, one of the biggest characters the show has ever seen, harking back to season 1. While trying to distract a massive herd of walkers by burning down a building, Nicholas and Glenn find themselves pinned between two herds of walkers, stuck on top of a dumpster. They were running low on bullets and salvation wasn’t coming any time soon. Nicholas, with his last bullet, committed suicide. The lifeless body of Nicholas slammed into Glenn, knocking both of them into the massive herd of walkers. The viewers watched in horror as the fan favorite was supposedly ripped to shreds and eaten alive. Speculations arose immediately once the episode concluded, leaving one big question on our minds. Was Glenn really dead? In this article I’ll discuss whether or not Glenn was killed off in “Thank You.”

Why Glenn is Not Dead:

• Glenn is not dead because when you watch the horrific scene over again, you can clearly see that Nicholas fell on top of Glenn’s body. This piece of information may not seem significant, but it is. If Nicholas did fall on top of Glenn than the walkers would be eating Nicholas and not Glenn.
• All the viewers see is Glenn’s face contort in horror as guts and intestines were pulled out of what we think is Glenn’s body. However, from what the viewers could see, the walkers were eating from Glenn’s chest. Now, anybody with a basic sense of the human body knows that intestines and guts aren’t located in in the stomach. Thus, proving that Glenn was not the person we saw getting eaten by walkers.
• As mentioned before, Glenn derives from the first episode of the first season, thus making him a major character in The Walking Dead universe. A character with that high of a status would be given a much more gratifying death. Glenn’s death would not be brought upon because a minor character killed himself. Glenn’s actual death would be a heroic death, not some anti-climactic demise.

Why Glenn is Dead:

• Glenn had been swarmed by hundreds of hungry walkers, ready to feast. Even if Nicholas did fall on top of Glenn, Glenn’s face, arms and maybe legs, were still exposed. It’s hard to believe that a person surrounded by hundreds of walkers wouldn’t at least get grazed on the arm or face.  The Walking Dead prides itself on being as realistic as a zombie apocalypse drama allows. Glenn surviving that sea of walkers just wouldn’t be realistic.
• Throughout “Thank You”, Glenn’s dialogue and actions reflected his actions and dialogue from season 1. This could have just been coincidences, but I think that it is was purposeful. The writers of The Walking Dead are smart enough to know what would be the most heart-breaking for the audience. Having a character from season 1 use their first piece of dialogue in their last episode would be the perfect way to end a character’s life in the show.

Personally, I think that that Glenn is not dead. He is too big of a character to be killed off because of a minor character’s actions. There is no doubt that Nicholas fell on top of Glenn. The guts being eaten were most likely Nicholas’. Overall, I don’t think that a major character would be killed off in such a fashion.