The Walking Dead's Creator Admits How Killing Off Characters Affects Him: "From Time to Time, I Think About Glenn"

The Walking Dead has killed off its fair share of characters over the years, with the brutal death of Glenn at the hands of Negan being one of the most memorable and bloody events in the comic's almost 200-issue run. Being the one responsible for all the death and dismemberment that takes place on the page, The Walking Dead’s creator, Robert Kirkman, has revealed that despite all the harrowing situations he puts his characters through, their deaths affect him almost as much as if they were real people.

Premiering in 2003 and ending 193 issues later in 2019, The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard, reinvigorated the zombie genre, with its AMC-produced television series catapulting Rick Grimes and his fellow survivors into the pop culture stratosphere.

Introducing nearly as many characters as he kills off, series creator Robert Kirkman, in the “Letter Hacks” section of The Walking Dead Deluxe #110, admits that all this death isn’t always easy to deal with, as the killing of Walking Dead alums — specifically the death of Glenn — has left a lasting impact on the writer in unmistakable ways.

Robert Kirkman Doesn’t Regret Killing Characters, but It Still Affects Him Deeply

The Walking Dead Deluxe #110 - 2025 (Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard and Dave McCaig)

Saying, “From time to time I think about something to do with Glenn and I'm like, 'Well, damn it,’” Kirkman succinctly describes the empty feeling of never being able to revisit a character he’s already killed, losses which still cut him deeply today despite them being works of self-made fiction. Murdered by Negan in The Walking Dead #100 via a barbed wire-wrapped bat named Lucille to the head, Glenn’s death took everyone off-guard, further setting the precedent that no one was safe in this post-apocalyptic world while showing what lengths Kirkman would go to tell a tragically compelling zombie story.

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To prove how much character deaths affect Kirkman, when staple Walking Dead hero Andrea died in 2017’s The Walking Dead #167, Kirkman dedicated a full-page letter to her passing, writing a eulogy that began with the words “I’m sorry.” Emphasizing how Andrea’s death felt like he had just “killed a close friend,” Kirkman continues by saying, “deaths in this series are never taken lightly,” and that he didn’t necessarily want to kill Andrea but knew it was something that needed to happen for the story to thrive — a testament to what these characters meant to Kirkman even in death.

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The Walking Dead Deluxe #110 is available from Image Comics.