'He will blame himself': The Walking Dead's Steven Yeun says fans should not blame Daryl for Glenn's death in 'disgusting' season premiere

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His character Glenn was brutally killed off in Sunday's season premiere of The Walking Dead.

But Steven Yeun, 32, has said that fans should not blame Daryl (Norman Reedus) for his gory death.

Glenn was beaten to a pulp by Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as punishment after Daryl punched the villain for tormenting Rosita. 

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Kind words: Steven Yeun, 32, has said that fans should not blame Daryl (Norman Reedus) for his character's gory death on The Walking Dead last weekend

Gone but not forgotten: His character Glenn was brutally killed off in Sunday's season seven premiere of The Walking Dead

Jeffrey has already said that Glenn would still be alive if it weren't for Daryl, but asked if we should blame the southerner, Steven told Entertainment Weekly: 'No. I think Daryl is a character that will blame himself.'

'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.'

Steven also confessed that watching his death scene, which features his eyeball popping out of his socket, was 'gnarly' and that his wife was shocked while his cousin had to leave the room.  

Brutal: Jeffrey Dean Morgan appears as Negan in a scene from The Walking Dead. In Sunday's season premiere, Negan uses his barbed wire bat 'Lucille' to bludgeon two characters to death

gory: Glenn, played by Steven Yeun (above), is killed off in the first episode of the seventh season. The scene is graphic, as it shows one of Glenn's eyes coming out of its socket

Innocent? Steven has said that fans shouldn't blame Daryl for Glenn's death

Glenn's beating came after Negan had already killed Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), in what viewers described as the most violent episode yet. 

The show has been criticised as so violent that it has created an ad hoc alliance of alienated viewers, conservative media monitors, and critics who took turns bashing the raw depictions as gratuitous.

Social media was abuzz on Monday and Tuesday as some fans swore never to watch another episode.

The visceral reaction was generated by the first episode of the show's seventh season, which aired Sunday night on AMC.

The episode of the show which centers around a zombie apocalypse culminated in the deaths of two of its most beloved characters, Abraham and Glenn.

The manner in which these deaths were depicted, however, has caused an uproar.

Grim: During Negan's violent outburst, the camera depicts gory scenes of brain matter and skull fragments

The climactic scene features Abraham being beaten to death with a bat that is adorned with barbed wire, christened 'Lucille' by Negan, the show's new villain.

The camera captures the blunt force hits, with one shot showing Glenn's eye popping out of its socket.

There are also close-up shots of crushed skulls and brain matter seeping out of Abraham and Glenn after they were bludgeoned to death.

The gory scenes were enough to prompt criticism from the Parents Television Council, a conservative group that calls itself 'a non-partisan education organizations advocating responsible entertainment'.

Violent: Rick was accosted by Negan in the first episode of the 7th series

'Last night's season premiere of The Walking Dead was one of the most graphically violent shows we've ever seen on television, comparable to the most violent of programs found on premium cable networks,' the council's president, Tim Winter, said in a statement.

The organization has advocated for allowing consumers greater flexibility in paying for channels that they actually watch rather than permitting cable and satellite companies to force subscribers to pay for large bundles of channels.

It says that those who find the content of violent shows like Walking Dead objectionable should not have to subsidize them.

'It's not enough to 'change the channel,' as some people like to advocate, because cable subscribers – regardless of whether they want AMC or watch its programming – are still forced to subsidize violent content,' Winter said. 

The episode was still being talked about on Tuesday, with a Twitter user identifying himself as Mike Grassi tweeting that it was 'brutal'

Other Twitter users said they were considering not watching the show anymore due to the graphic violence

This Twitter user wrote that she 'officially quit watching' the show in reaction to the first episode

Corey Blaser tweeted that the show was 'too graphic,' echoing sentiments expressed by the Parents Television Council

John Hocevar tweeted that the first episode was 'disgusting...The Walking Dead didn't just jump the shark, it pulped it'

'This brutally-explicit show is a powerful demonstration of why families should have greater control over the TV networks they purchase from their cable and satellite providers.' 

Twitter users who watched the show said that it 'jumped the shark,' with one viewer saying that he suffered a panic attack because of the graphic violence. 

Critics seemed to be in agreement with both the council and viewers.

'When real life already seems a few calamitous steps away from dystopia, surviving an hour of pure, relentless misery isn't entertainment — it's a chore,' opined The Daily Beast.

'If the average episode is as much fun as a punch to the jaw, the Season Seven premiere was—well—a barbed-wire baseball bat to the skull,' according to GQ.

This Twitter user thought the first episode was 'savage as f***'

Scott Meisner tweeted that the episode was 'brutally dark and interminably painful to watch.' He also claimed to have had a panic attack because of the show

Other Twitter users, however, defended The Walking Dead, saying fans should know what to expect from a 'zombie apocalypse show'

'If you think it's too violent for your children, act like parents and don't let them watch it,' tweeted Craig

The episode's director, Greg Nicotero, defended the show and the graphic depictions of violence.

'In this instance, we felt it was important to launch us into this season to show the extent of what Negan is capable of doing because that drives so much of where the series is going from here on,' he told USA Today.

'It's graphic and horrible. And while designing, testing and shooting the makeups, we wanted to push it a little bit.'

When asked about fans who swore they would not watch the show again, he said: 'I would say that that means we have done something to affect these people in a way that they don't necessarily know how to process.'

'I'm a big Game of Thrones fan and I've been shocked at the turn of events on that show but I still love it and I still am committed to seeing where the story goes. I think it's' a kneejerk reaction people have because they care about these characters.'