5 Things You Didn’t Know About The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun

One of the most watched and talked about shows on television today is the horror drama The Walking Dead.

Steven Yeun who stars as fan favorite, Glenn Rhee, sat down at a panel at Silicon Valley Comic Con to give viewers an inside look into his role on the prolific show.

Here are some things you might not know about the star of The Walking Dead:

1. He is a new father

Yeun recently became a dad, and he reflected on how this related to his character who is a father-to-be. “The show was, in certain ways, mirroring my actual life.” He also said that mentally preparing Glenn to be an expectant father was preparing himself, as well. “I didn’t realize it was happening until my wife told me she was pregnant.”

He described the birth of his child as spiritual. “Whatever the concept of God is to you, when you see your baby born, you kind of see God in them. You see everything in a thing that didn’t exist before is now existing. It’s beautiful.”

2. He thinks Glenn’s death was “pretty perfect”

While he would love to spend more time living in the character’s shoes, he’s happy with his ending. “I had a really good time, and an easy time transitioning out of it, not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because it felt complete.” 

Yeun knew it was coming for about two years. “I just rode that ride, and when I chose to let go and ride that ride it wasn’t so difficult. It was really freeing, really fun,” he admitted.

Glenn is a favorite among fans of The Walking Dead. Yeun acknowledges that his death was a hard one for the audience, calling it “emotionally horrific.”

Yeun: When you look at the other characters it is not a matter of how long they have been on the show that made the death very specific for Glenn; it’s actually what it stood for. Glenn had a pretty solid through-line of compassion and wanting to live life in the right way, and when you crush the person that is doing that, that’s what resets all that stuff.

3. Being in the background is not easy

Yeun said that in the first season especially, when most scenes included a large portion of the cast, the actors would be in the background of everyone else’s coverage. “You think it would be easy to be in the background, but it’s really hard because you [are there] the entire time, every take, 12 hours a day, and you have to do it with the same fervor as you did a million takes before.”

He described the challenge as “a grind” that brought the cast together.

Yeun: You are up on your feet constantly; and you live in the world of a character’s head, you waste energy, on the whole, at a constant level. [The characters] were just there for survival. That’s what brings them together. As actors that was survival, too, man. It was hard. It was hot!

4. He’s glad that audiences don’t see what happens between takes of the “emotionally horrific” scenes

“Watching all of your friends act in horrible ways is not fun,” explained Yeun.

“I’m glad that they never show you the moments in between takes, because people are really screwed up. They do weird stuff. In cases like [Glenn’s death] someone might be crying the whole time to stay in that moment, and you have to endure that, watch someone that you care about suffer.”

5. During the first season, he didn’t want to leave the set

Jeryl Prescott, who played Jacqui on Season 1, was the moderator for Yeun’s panel. She recalled one day where Yeun didn’t have many scenes and was wrapped early, but didn’t want to leave. Yeun responded, “I didn’t have a home to go home to. I am in Atlanta with no friends, let me just friggin’ stay.” 

Both Steven Yeun and Glenn Rhee have come a long way. (Or Glenn did, anyway. RIP.)

The Walking Dead will return to AMC Fall 2017. 

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