HBOWho's the meanest TV show of them all?
That appears to be the game afoot on the internet right now after The Walking Dead finally revealed whether Glenn was alive (spoiler: he was) and Game of Thrones released a very Jon Snow-centric season six billboard in Times Square, bringing a whole new energy to the endless and infuriating "Is Jon Snow alive?" conversation.
Something seems awfully coincidental about this billboard going up just the morning after Glenn's fate was finally revealed, like maybe Game of Thrones had been feeling a little abandoned since TV fans had turned their attentions away from the stabbing of Ned Stark's bastard to agonize over the potential death of another young main star of another show whose dead character count is high enough to warrant an entire gallery.
While the official Twitter account of the Walking Dead TV show is still busy promoting next week's midseason finale and retweeting fans' joyous reactions at seeing Glenn improbably alive, the official account for the Walking Dead comics did take the time this morning to weigh in on Game of Thrones' new key art.
And you guys thought WE were torturing our fans... https://t.co/TJbjPHgVix
? The Walking Dead (@TheWalkingDead) November 23, 2015"And you guys thought WE were torturing our fans..." the tweet reads, accompanied by a retweet of Game of Thrones' new poster.
Yes, it did seem like The Walking Dead was torturing its fans, and it still does. It sounds like the show even tortured its actors. Andrew Lincoln told The Wrap that the script for this season's third episode said, "Glenn gets torn apart by zombies." It did not say "It looks like Glenn might be torn apart by zombies, but really he's just fine thanks to a helpful dumpster and a rolling can!"
Both shows, in fact, have been driving us nuts.
While The Walking Dead went so far as to take Steven Yeun—a series regular since the beginning—out of the main credits for the episodes in between his "death" and the reveal of his non-death, Game of Thrones has recruited anyone and everyone to shout from the rooftops that "Jon Snow is dead!"
Kit Harington declared that he was dead and would not be returning for season six. Co-star Maisie Williams promised that Jon Snow is dead. HBO President Michael Lombardo even seemed to lose his mind for a second as he unleashed this gem of a soundbite: "Dead is dead is dead is dead. He be dead."
Walking Dead boss Scott M. Gimple also released a statement that was read on Talking Dead after Glenn's initial fall off that dumpster, and it went a little something like "You will see Glenn again, or parts of Glenn, or maybe all of Glenn, or who knows, nanny nanny boo boo."
(Actual statement: "In some way, we will see Glenn, some version of Glenn, or parts of Glenn again, either in flashback, or in the current story, to help complete the story.")
Despite all of that gleeful trolling, we've seen pictures of Kit Harington sporting his Jon Snow hair and arriving at Game of Thrones filming locations. There was also at least one photo of Steven Yeun on set for filming a later episode of The Walking Dead. You can hide an actor for an episode, but there's only so much you can do about hiding them every day for months at a time.
There's also apparently only so much you can do about merchandising for your show, especially when that merchandising involves a line of toys for dead characters, and that line does not include any reference to one Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.
Of course, in Jon's case, he probably is dead, but it's more about whether he'll be resurrected. Glenn didn't have the benefit of a priestess with resurrection powers, so his death would probably have been a little more permanent. Given that fact and the fact that Jon died at the end of a season finale and not the end of the third episode, we're going to give the current "win" in this stupid war to The Walking Dead, whose opening credits move was really the icing on the really terrible cake.
However, Game of Thrones has many months to take the crown back, since season six doesn't debut until April, and we're sure they have many more tricks up their sleeves.
We're all for mystery on TV, but not like this, you guys. In fact, as much as we've bitched and moaned about both the Jon and Glenn storylines, we're having a great time speculating. We just don't like being played for fools, and it's getting to the point where two of the biggest shows on TV seem to be competing to see who can jerk its fanbase around the most, and that is no fun. It's especially hard for those of us who are fans of both shows who now feel like we've been jerked around so much that we might actually throw up a little bit due to motion sickness.
So here's our advice for next time a high-profile show wants to act like it's going to kill off a high-profile character and not annoy us to our own deaths: Just do what you're going to do and shut up about it.
Thank you and good night!