As mentioned previously, Glenn serves as a beacon of light and goodness throughout his "Walking Dead" run. No matter what, he always puts the needs of his friends and his wife, Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan), ahead of his own. This makes his demise in the Season 7 premiere, "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be," all the more heartbreaking as Negan Smith (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) bludgeons him to death with his barbed wire baseball bat, Lucille (a fate that makes no sense). At the same time, for Steven Yeun, Glenn's good nature made playing him a rather incomplete experience.
During a chat with The Wall Street Journal, Yeun expressed what made portraying Glenn a somewhat frustrating experience for him. "I felt like I was servicing a concept of goodness as opposed to engaging with Glenn's humanity," he said, highlighting that Glenn's status as the moral center of "The Walking Dead" meant that exploring him as a person wasn't high up on the priority list by any means. Thus, Glenn was missing some vital components, and for Yeun, that was something that proved difficult to look past.
Despite some issues with Glenn's characterization, Steven Yeun turned in consistently strong performances in the role — ones likely perfected by his improv skills.
