The zombie apocalypse that took over TV in 2010 was very, very good for Steven Yeun.
To say that “The Walking Dead” was Yeun’s main role would be an understatement so powerful that it could revive a corpse.
Yeun had a handful of on-screen credits to his name before being cast in the AMC series as Glenn Rhee. The character immediately proved to be instrumental in the series, as it was he who initially rescued Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes from the zombies in the second episode of the show, which made the character part of the group that formed the core of the series.
Although Glenn was just a pizza delivery man before the series’ events, he quickly became a fan favorite after showing a willingness to risk his life to protect others. It didn’t hurt either, he managed to star in an iconic scene from Season 1, in which he runs out of a ruined Atlanta in a red Dodge Challenger to distract the zombies and cover the group’s escape.
“I think it was a great blessing for me to get ‘Walking Dead’, because not only did I meet amazing people who taught me some amazing ways to navigate life – being a professional, being an actor, taking a job seriously – but also just being submit to a beast like ‘Walking Dead’, ”Yeun told Variety.
The Walking Dead’s popularity has skyrocketed since the beginning, growing to become the most watched television show for several seasons. Although the show has a large cast, Yeun was an important part of that success, with the character Glenn transforming from a young and brave member of the show’s core group into a bona fide sex hero and action hero.
Namely, “Walking Dead” fans would have a hard time naming a scene more intense than that of the season 3 episode “When the Dead Come Knocking”, in which Glenn is tied to a chair and locked in a room where a zombie is loose. The scene ends with Glenn somehow managing to kill him and let out a very real and raw primal scream.
In addition, fans took a look at Glenn’s tender side too, after Yeun and costar Lauren Cohan, who plays Maggie Greene, became the first couple of the zombie apocalypse. The two characters made a loving connection in Season 2 and managed to be together in countless situations of life and death.
All the fans’ affection and admiration came from the incredibly strong reaction when Glenn was horribly killed (it involved a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire) at the premiere of the 7th season in October 2016.
The death was not entirely unexpected, as the character dies at the same moment in the comic series that inspired “Walking Dead”. But fans of the show are still not very happy about it, with some even vowing not to watch the show from that moment on. However, Yeun has no hard feelings. Seven seasons in a highly rated prime time series made him more confident about his skills and more determined to talk about the job.
“Match [the show], if I had any weird feelings about it, it was mainly because I didn’t have time for myself to understand who I was and maybe my voice and what I wanted to say, ”Yeun says. “I have always been at the service of this broader narrative. And, in a way, it reflects the way I was raised in the early years. I think I’m done. I think I want to try the other side. “
(In the photo: Steven Yeun and Lauren Cohen in “The Walking Dead.”)