Far from being upset that they’ve lost a job, most of the actors who’ve had their characters brutally murdered on The Walking Dead are pleased that they got to bow out of the hit AMC drama with a bang. Michael Cudlitz – who played Abraham until he met his maker in the season 7 premiere – is the latest actor to praise their exit, saying that he loved his death scene and he thinks it’s better than its equivalent in the original comic books from Robert Kirkman.
Speaking at Walker Stalker Con in Tulsa (via ComicBook.Com), Cudlitz had this to say:
“I’m cool with it. I knew when I came on the show that they were making a very strong effort to go back to the narrative of the comic. So, that’s why when Abraham and Rosita and Eugene come on screen and it’s pretty much the duplication of the cover of the comic when they arrive, that’s sort of a signal to the comic book and that we’re going back a little closer to it than we had. We still have to deal with all the things that we’re done prior with characters that had been taken out that hadn’t been taken out in the comics so there’s only a certain amount we can stick to it.”
Continuing on, the actor noted that he’s alright with the way his character died, saying he liked “the way they took him out.”
“Based on how the show was going through the comics in connection with the show, I knew I had probably about two years on the show before we came to where Abraham’s death was in the graphic novels. I wound up getting almost a full three. Half of Season 4, all of 5, all of 6, and bookend with 7. I was good with it. I like the way they took him out. I like how it launches the next bits of story and how his death affected everyone there and the impact that it had. I think it’s a way better death than in the comic.”
Cudlitz’s opinion might be somewhat controversial, but on the whole, we imagine fans would agree with him that Abraham’s death in the TV show is an improvement on the version in the comics. For those who don’t know, in issue #97, the character meets his end when Dwight shoots him through the eye with an arrow from his crossbow. That’s pretty shocking and gruesome, but it was a whole lot more so when Negan viciously smashed his head in with Lucille, wouldn’t you say?
The Walking Dead returns for its eighth season on October 22nd.