Abraham did not have a happy ending in The Walking Dead television show or comic book. Abraham was played by Michael Cudlitz in AMC’s The Walking Dead television series, and first appeared in season 4, episode 10. In the comics, Abraham made his debut in issue 53. Therefore, while Abraham was a later addition to both the show and the comic book, he quickly became a major figure in The Walking Dead, which made the character’s death in each medium heartbreaking.
Abraham Ford was a former U.S. Army Sergeant in The Walking Dead franchise, so he was well-qualified for the zombie apocalypse and quickly became Rick Grimes’ right-hand man. While Abraham had a hard exterior, he was actually a kind-hearted individual and was a loyal member of the group of survivors. However, for someone who was such a beloved character, and was even a favorite character of franchise creator Robert Kirkman, Abraham received disappointing deaths in both The Walking Dead show and comic book.
Abraham’s Death In The Walking Dead’s TV Adaptation Was Disappointing
Negan Did Not Kill Abraham In The Walking Dead Comics
Much of season 6 of the hit zombie outbreak series was building towards the introduction of Negan, one of the most ruthless villains in The Walking Dead. The Walking Dead season 6 ended on a cliffhanger after Rick’s group finally crossed paths with Negan, who brutally beat one of them to death with his barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat. Since Glenn was the victim of Negan in The Walking Dead comic books, fans were terrified the beloved character would meet the same fate in the television show. However, The Walking Dead season 7 premiere revealed that Abraham was Negan’s victim.
While Abraham’s demise in the show was very surprising, it immediately got overshadowed by Glenn’s death, who was a much more popular character.
But this change from The Walking Dead comics was immediately reversed as Negan decided to kill two characters, making Glenn his next target. It was actually Kirkman himself who suggested that the TV show should kill off Abraham before Glenn, just to throw off the fans. While Abraham’s demise in the show was very surprising, it immediately got overshadowed by Glenn’s death, who was a much more popular character. The consequence of Kirkman’s decision was that Abraham was robbed of a proper ending on The Walking Dead television show.
Abraham’s Death In The Walking Dead Comic Series Was An Afterthought
Abraham’s Death Even Surprised Robert Kirkman
Even though Abraham quickly became a major character upon his introduction in The Walking Dead comics, this version of the character also received a sudden, unsatisfying death. Abraham may have been one of Robert Kirkman’s favorite characters, but the writer had no long-term plans for him. Therefore, when he realized issue #98 was quite boring, Kirkman decided to kill off Abraham. In an annotation in The Walking Dead Deluxe #98, Kirkman wrote:
I had ZERO plans on killing Abraham prior to writing this issue. I wrote the final scene of issue #97 without any idea of what would happen on page 2 of this issue. But when I sat down to do my plot breakdown…I thought “Dang, this issue is kind of boring.”…I knew I had lots of plans for Eugene, but I started working it out and I didn’t really have any big plans for Abraham, nothing far reaching, and luckily he wasn’t on any already drawn upcoming covers, so…well…killing him seemed like the right option at the time.
On only page two of The Walking Dead #98, Abraham is having a heart-to-heart with Eugene when an arrow is suddenly shot through his right eye. Abraham keeps talking for a few moments, not realizing he’s been shot by Dwight, a member of Negan’s crew, then he collapses and dies. Just like that, Abraham’s story in the comics came to an end. The result is that Abraham never received a proper ending in The Walking Dead show or comics, which is frustrating for some fans of the character.
