Conan, Like Us, Was Angry at Jeffrey Dean Morgan for Killing Steven Yeun on ‘The Walking Dead’
When it comes to character deaths that have stayed with fans, Glenn on The Walking Dead is pretty high up there. It’s the role that brought Steven Yeun into the limelight for many of us, but his beloved character’s death was also the moment that solidified the evil lengths that Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) would go to. So, it isn’t that surprising that people are still upset over Glenn’s death and still talk to star Steven Yeun about it. But it is a little surprising that Conan O’Brien is still clearly mad at JDM about it.
In a conversation on Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Nope star Steven Yeun joined the episode to talk with his friend Conan about a great many things, one of them being his role on The Walking Dead. O’Brien asked Yeun whether or not Yeun was upset or shocked by Glenn’s death on the show. “I don’t have time to explain this to you; I have to go home,” he said, but also, he told Conan, “Sometimes, you just accept what it is and you go with it. There’s no tension behind it.” Yeun, after all, knew the end might be coming because his character was killed off in the comics two years prior. “You’re like, ‘OK.’ … I’m not gonna go kicking and screaming.”
But don’t get your hopes up that we’ll see Glenn returning to the world of The Walking Dead any time soon, either. “The police voice in my head said, ‘If you do it again, you’re a hack,’” he told Conan. “So, I don’t do it again. I cringe [at the thought].”
Conan’s not over it, though
All this to say that Conan O’Brien went on to admit that he really struggled to not be mean to Jeffrey Dean Morgan when he saw him after Glenn’s death. Conan, welcome to the world of loving Jeffrey Dean Morgan but hating a great many of his characters. (John Winchester, the Comedian, and Negan? Denny Duquette deserved better.)
“I will admit that [Jeffrey Dean Morgan] came on our show at Comic-Con and I swear to God, it took an effort for me to not have attitude. I’m a rapidly aging adult who understands showbusiness, and I had a little bit of trouble, like ‘You f**ker. You killed my friend.’ I think I cut him off a few times on his anecdotes, or I think I read the notes and read ahead to what joke he was going to do and got there first. ‘Well, that’s all the time we have for this asshole. Murderer. Why don’t you get your bat and get the f**k out of here.’”
To Yeun’s credit, he also understands how hard it was on Morgan. “He had such a hard gig,” Yeun said. “Show up, displace the foundation of the show, and then like continue on? It’s wild.” So we won’t be getting a return for Glenn any time soon, but it is nice to know that Conan O’Brien also suffered with Steven Yeun’s departure from The Walking Dead.
(via Pajiba, featured image: AMC)
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