Get ready for "All that wait for nothing" type comments if that's the case. If they want the premiere to end with eye-rolling instead of nose-blowing and weeping, they should kill off Abraham or Eugene. If AMC wants to really land a critical blow this Sunday, then Daryl dies. And it would blow the internet up, maybe forever, maybe beyond recognition. It would deal the biggest blow to Carol, who isn't with the prisoners at this point, giving her the motivation she needs to become a stone-cold killer again.
They need Daryl more than almost anybody else-the problem is, so does AMC. Not only would this be a huge blow to audiences, it would be a huge blow to the survivors, as Daryl is one of the most reliable, down-to-earth and likable remaining members. At least he's the only option that would elicit tears. As my colleague Paul Tassi said to me, his character (who was not in the comics) was pretty much built for this moment.Īnd since the show can't kill off Rick or Glenn at this point and almost certainly won't kill a woman or child, Daryl is the only option. Now, let me very clear: I don't think Daryl will be the one to meet his end at the hands of Negan and his bat, Lucille. It would be a weird moment dramatically, and wouldn't work for viewers the same as if Negan killed "someone his own size." (Michonne is a badass, but Negan doesn't know that.)ĭaryl should die this Sunday. Again, it would make him look weak, not strong.īut Michonne is a woman, and I don't think Negan will kill a woman. Still, as much as Carl's hair annoys me (and I wouldn't mind seeing Negan use his infamous pair of scissors, Beatrice, on him) there's no way Negan beats a child to death. Rick is pretty much untouchable, so I won't even suggest that they kill him off. With Glenn and Maggie out of the running, that leaves Rick, Michonne, Daryl and Carl. For AMC to justify this kind of suspense and this kind of cliff-hanger, they can't have a secondary character killed off. Negan should kill a main character, though. I also don't think Negan would kill a woman because, as sexist as it may be, he would look weak going after a woman instead of a man. Besides, she may have a zombie baby inside her and that's way more interesting than a bat to the head. Likewise, they can't really kill off Maggie because that would be equally cruel given what she and Glenn just went through. It would pour salt in the wound and leave a lot of viewers angry. ( I go into great length on why it failed in this post.) Now that they've messed with our heads this much, they can't have Negan kill Glenn. The show toyed with viewers' emotions and ultimately didn't deliver the kind of surprise and tension that it needed to. In the comics, Negan kills Glenn, but last season AMC pulled the dirty trick of faking Glenn's death. You don't make audiences wait half a year only to discover that a secondary character we don't even like all that much is a goner. These are terrible choices for a major death. Abraham in particular has been set up as a likely victim, both because of his recent infatuation with Sasha, and the fact that he's a big guy and Negan may want to remove him as a threat. After all, in that line-up pictured above, there are no black men or blond women, the two classes of people in the show most likely to die.
My money is on Abraham or Eugene, or possibly Sasha.
The most likely characters to die in the Season 7 premiere aren't the show's central figures.