‘The Walking Dead’ Fans React To This Season’s First Major Death

AMC

WARNING: Spoilers to this seasons premiere of The Walking Dead will be found below…

The slipperiest bastard in all of The Walking Dead finally met his maker in tonight’s season premiere of The Walking Dead. Introduced way back in the sixth season, Gregory always seemed to be on the verge of death. He survived being stabbed by Ethan in the sixth season; in the seventh season, he survived a Savior attack on The Hilltop and Maggie rescued him from a zombie attack; and in the eighth season, he survived being thrown down a flight of stairs, being imprisoned with the Saviors, and yet another attack by the Saviors on The Hilltop. He’s played both sides for as long as he’s been around, freely selling out either Maggie or Negan to stay alive, and somehow, he’s never faced any real consequences.

Finally, however, in the ninth season premiere, Gregory took it too damn far, and after being officially ousted as leader through Democratic means, Gregory attempts to oust Maggie through an insurrection. He gets Bernard liquored up, works him into a frenzy by suggesting that his son’s death was Maggie’s fault, and Gregory sends Bernard to kill Maggie.

The coup fails, and Maggie immediately sniffs out Gregory as the mastermind. More determined than ever to show herself as the leader of The Hilltop, Maggie makes executing Gregory one of her first orders of business. After considerable protest, Gregory is hung.

No tears are shed.

Though Gregory has managed to survive much longer than he should have, he never accrued much by way of fan affection. He was neither a hero, nor a proper villain. He was a snake — he defaced Glenn’s grave, for God’s sake! — and though Rick and Michonne may disagree, Gregory got what he deserved. The only shame here is that it took this long.

Twitter paid their proper respects.

https://twitter.com/Phoenix1133/status/1049123531231916032

https://twitter.com/kathleen_hanley/status/1049123905695350784

https://twitter.com/afakehappysmile/status/1049123871264145408

https://twitter.com/iAmKelsey91/status/1049123765966188544

https://twitter.com/AndrewTobey/status/1049124219278295041

Goodbye Gregory. You will not be missed.