‘Walking Dead’ Season 7 Spoilers: Steven Yeun Says Glenn’s Death Was ‘Pretty Messed Up’; Does He Blame Daryl?

Just like every “Walking Dead” fan, it was hard for Steven Yeun to watch Glenn get beaten to death by Lucille, Negan’s barbed-wire baseball bat. In a new interview, Yeun opened up about his character’s grim demise and also revealed whether he blames Daryl for the death.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly Thursday, Yeun admitted that watching Glenn’s death scene during the Season 7 premiere last Sunday was “pretty messed up.” He added: “It was really terrible to see what it looked like, but it was also so striking. They did such a great job.”

The 32-year-old actor, who joined the popular AMC series in Season 1, also said it was hard for some of his family members to watch the death scene. Yeun told EW that his cousin said she had to leave the room and his wife, Joana Pak, was in shock. “It wasn’t the gore that messed her up,” he explained. “It was everything that Glenn is, and it all comes rushing back to you in that moment when you see his broken face. It makes me emotional, too, because I’ve never really been a participant as a viewer. I’ve mostly just been a participant as someone who’s helping to make this show. It was gnarly to watch, even though I knew how everything was going down.”

Yeun also dished on whether he blames Daryl (Norman Reedus) for Glenn’s death. In the premiere, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) had picked Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) as his victim, but also turned the bat on Glenn after Daryl tried to attack him. While some fans — and Morgan himself — do believe Daryl was at fault, Yeun doesn’t see it that way.

“I think Daryl is a character that will blame himself,” he said. “I think that’s enough for him. Even if it’s not real or even if it’s not accurate or fair, I think he would shoulder that type of burden. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with that and I’m sure Norman will crush it.”

On Friday, “Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman chatted with EW about the premiere, telling the outlet that Glenn had to die because there are a lot of events that unfold in the comic books as a result of the character’s brutal murder.

“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 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.”

Kirkman told the publication that other “options” were considered, but in the end they chose to kill off Glenn. Interestingly, shortly after the Season 7 premiere aired, a video leaked online showing Negan killing a pregnant Maggie (Lauren Cohan). “The Walking Dead” producers haven’t addressed the leaked footage, but the video shows Negan hitting Maggie over the head with Lucille and declaring: “Look at that, taking it like a champ.” In response, a bloody Maggie spits at Negan before he hits her again.

“The Walking Dead” Season 7 airs Sundays at 9 p.m. EDT on AMC.