SPOILER ALERT: The Walking Dead's most devastating episode yet sees main character eaten alive... but was he really killed?
Walking Dead fans were left reeling on Sunday night after Glenn appeared to be eaten alive.
Having been in the show from the very first episode, he was the last person expected to meet his end.
But after getting trapped in an alleyway by a herd of walkers in the final dramatic minutes, he appeared to be torn asunder.
WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT
RIP? Walking Dead fans were left reeling on Sunday night after Glenn appeared to be eaten alive
In the heart-stopping sequence, Glenn and Nicholas - who had previously attempted to murder him - scrambled on top of a dumpster while the zombies closed in all around them.
With nowhere to go, Nicholas turned to Glenn and thanked him for giving him a second chance - before putting his gun to his own head and pulling the trigger.
A stunned Glenn has no time to react before the dead body slumps as knocks them both into the sea of ravenous walkers.
Dead end: In the heart-stopping sequence, Glenn and Nicholas get cornered in an alley
Trapped: The herd has closed them in in front, while walkers pile against the fence behind them
When you want a job done properly: Glenn had trusted Nicholas to lead the way, but it didn't work out so well
The final shot we see of Maggie's husband is his tortured face as decaying hands pull bloody entrails and feast on them.
However fans may cling to a glimmer of hope that it was only Nicholas's dead body the walkers were pulling apart, as it seemed to land squarely on top of Glenn, and that he may have scrambled under the dumpster afterward.
But is seems unlikely, as there was nowhere to go and he was surrounded by what seemed like thousands of the undead.
Fail: The pair had been searching for a feed depot to set alight as a distraction
Closing in: Scrambled on top of a dumpster while the zombies closed in all around them
Only way out: Nicholas then pointed his gun at his own head and pulled the trigger, knocking them both off the dumpster
If die he did he certainly wasn't the only one in one of the goriest episodes yet.
Earlier in the show Annie (Beth Keener) was also taken out, along with two other minor characters.
The show had opened with Rick and a breakaway group attempting to lead the hoard of Walkers away from the safe zone.
No sooner had Rick advised Glenn and Michonne that some of the weaker members ‘might not make it’ than a man’s throat was ripped out by a zombie.
Gruesome: The final shot we see of Maggie's husband is his tortured face as decaying hands pull bloody entrails and feast on them
Whose guts are they? However fans may cling to a glimmer of hope that it was only Nicholas's dead body the walkers were pulling apart, as it seemed to land squarely on top of Glenn, and that he may have scrambled under the dumpster
Slim hope: But is seems unlikely, as there was nowhere to go and he was surrounded by what seemed like thousands of the undead
Unperturbed Rick lurched in to salvage the weapons from the corpse. ‘Get back safe,’ he told the others coldly.
Michonne’s posse soon got ambushed by a slew of the starving undead.
In the confusion Sturgis shot Scott (Kenric Green) in the back off the leg by accident - he then ran away like a coward.
Another bumbling Alexandrian, who has a wife called Betsy back at the camp, got bitten badly on the shoulder.
Best laid plans: The episode started with Rick trying to get back to Alexandria as his plan to lead the herd away fell apart
Babysitting: Michonne tried to lead a group of Alexandians back home, who kept getting picked off
Chop suey: Her katana had plenty of work to do
‘I know what it means, we gotta keep moving right?’ he said naively.
In what appeared to be an abandoned town they found Sturgis’ hat.
‘He left us behind?’ they mused before finding a pack of Walkers gorging themselves on his carcass.
In a pet shop they whispered a plan to try and distract the zombies from the crew. Glenn volunteered to be the bait.
No good: This guy got ambushed while a group of Alexandians stood around watching
Dead weight: Michonne found going slow with the inexperienced stragglers
Fight: Michonne and Heath came to a head when he overheard Rick telling her to leave stragglers behind
Swarm: The group seemed to find walkers every corner they turned
‘But you have a wife,’ said Michonne. ‘That’s why I’m doing this,’ he replied bravely.
Annie and Scott were so badly injured they asked to be left behind, for the sake of the others.
‘Ok, we don’t leave people behind, not us,’ said Heath (Corey Hawkins) angrily.
‘No one is leaving anyone behind,’ agreed Michonne in a hiss.
The deadlocked warrior defended Rick’s seemingly vicious advice - accusing Heath of ‘not knowing’ how bad they’d had it.
Deja vu: Michonne's group also got trapped in an alleyway, but luckily the far side was clear
Too slow: David wasn't so lucky getting over the fence
Walker food: He had already been bitten earlier in the episode, so it was only a matter of time
Waste of paper: The note he asked Michonne to deliver to his wife didn't make it eaither
She told him that sometimes there was ‘no choice’.
‘Have you ever been covered in so much blood that you don’t know if it’s yours or the Walkers or your friends? Then you don’t know,’ She spat.
They hid in the pet store until they were attacked from all angles by the ominous ‘herd’.
As they ran away Annie fell, proving Michonne’s point quite succinctly.
‘Just go,’ she screamed to the others as she was torn apart.
Still going: Meanwhile Daryl, Abraham and Sasha tried to lead the remaining heard away
Lone wolf: Upon hearing gunfire back home, Daryl ignored Rick's orders and headed back to help
Accident prone: After slipping and injuring her ankle, Anna was another that became an appetiser
While scaling a fence Michonne was almost eaten, but she escaped by a hair’s breadth.
On his solo mission Rick cut his hand while hacking up a swarm of filthy Walkers.
‘Good luck dumbass’ Glenn told him on the radio - the last words they would exchange, and a throwback to the very first conversation they had via walkie talkie in the first episode.
Before his grizzly end yellow-bellied Nicholas was forced to confront his past, when he saw another old friend he had ‘left behind’ to die.
Ouch: Rick injured himself while killing off a group of walkers he encountered
Ad hoc: He made his way back to the RV to try head off the walkers who had split from the main herd
More problems: but he was suddenly ambushed by the Wolves Morgan had allowed escape in the previous episode
The man was now a pitiful zombie, dying in agony under a car. ‘It should be me,’ he said, as he killed the grotesque creature.
‘You’re not that guy any more,’ assured Glenn, not entirely accurately.
The cliffhanger for the explosive episode was a mortal catastrophe for Rick.
After attempting to lead a hoard of walkers away from the Alexandria Safe Zone in an RV, the plan that had gone horribly awry.
Wrong guy to pick on: After a brief struggle, Rick shot them both
Execution: The Wolf attackers had taken a gun from Alexandria, but luckily missed when they tried to shoot Rick... who didn't make the same mistake
Say hello to my little friend: Rick then spotted more Wolves sneaking up, and made short work of them with his machine gun
As he tried to contact the rest of his team on the radio, he was ambushed by the wolves Morgan had allowed to flee last week - with their only gun.
Rick managed to dispatch the two, but was shocked to find baby food in one of their rucksacks, knowing that it probably came from Judith's stash.
But there was no time to contemplate it as he spotted more Wolves approaching in the rearview mirror
Panting furiously he unloaded his machine gun through the wall of the RV, killing the lot.
Visibly shaken he tried to escape but was unable to start the vehicle’s engine – and was left helpless as a legion of vile zombies approached.
Bad sign: He became concerned when he found a bottle of Judith's baby food in one of the attacker's bags
Cliffhanger: But as Rick attempted to start up the RV it wouldn't - just as the herd approached
In Talking Dead after the show, a cryptic statement from showrunner Scott M. Gimple addressed Glenn's fate.
'Dear fans of The Walking Dead, this is a hard story to tell and when we were planning to tell we knew our friends at the Talking Dead would be talking to you about it and knowing you’d all be talking, and feeling and commiserating, I knew we should say something about it lest our silence say something we didn’t mean to say or not say,' host Chris Hardwick read.
'So I’ll say this: In some way, we will see Glenn, some version of Glenn or parts of Glenn again, either in flashback or in the current story to help complete the story.'
Walker Glenn? That 'parts of Glenn' bit didn't sound too promising
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