Out of the 11 characters lined up in front of Negan in the closing moments of the season 6 finale of The Walking Dead, Abraham seemed to be the one fans thought would most likely meet a gruesome end courtesy of Lucille – even though it’s actually Glenn that checks out in the comics.
There are a couple of reasons for this: Glenn’s “death” was already set up as a red herring earlier on in the season, and fans were not too happy about it. This has led to the presumption that everyone’s favourite pizza delivery boy will be spared. Also, in the comics, Abraham is the one killed by Dwight’s wayward arrow, not Denise. There have been several instances of characters avoiding their comic book deaths, only to be dispatched in some other fashion on the show, making the double-tough redhead the safest bet for a brain-bashing.
Well, you can probably forget about that happening, as here’s what actor Michael Cudlitz had to say about the Denise switcheroo, and Abraham’s longevity.
“Her death spurs on a whole bunch of other stuff, and then the audience knows that Abraham will continue for a while now. Now we get to see what a world with Negan and Abraham both in it will be like. That’s something we don’t see in the graphic novels. So a lot of cool stuff happens. For me, knowing that his potential death had come and gone, it was a moment to go, “Oh cool, they really aren’t going to stick with what the graphic novel does.” As a fan of both the novel and the show, it was cool.”
Assuming Cudlitz isn’t trying to throw people off the scent, this is pretty definitive evidence that Abraham will be sticking around to delight us with his creative profanity for at least another few episodes.
All will be revealed when The Walking Dead returns for its seventh season in October.
