"The Walking Dead" is creeping closer, with some enticing details and new hints being dropped day by day.

The nerves of fans were truly rattled as they witnessed the final episode of Season 6, and while the cliffhanger appears to have backfired massively given the fan reaction to the finale, it does ensure a heartbreaking start to the next run.

But who's it going to be? Who will 'take it like a champ' and suffer at the merciless hands of Negan? There are a great deal of options, but by all speculation in evidence one obvious choice: Glenn.

It would be a significant move for the show to eliminate one of its finest characters, but it may be necessary in order to justify the hype since the POV execution cut to black. And that's not the only reason Glenn should be the man to meet Lucille in the Season 7 premiere.

When faced with nothing else but simple and common observation into season 7, we can clearly see Glenn is amiss.

9. Unpredictable After The Fake Out For Casual Fans

Glenn's fake death scene in Season 6 was the source of outrage for many fans. The scene itself was visually stunning and genuinely stunned everyone watching.

Not many shows had been brave enough to pull off such a shockingly-timed death for a major character, the only problem with the whole tale is that Glenn didn't actually die.

Some fans may believe Glenn is a safe bet to cruise through Season 7 as he's already been involved in a major death plot. Killing him off for good would be an unpredictable move for some.

8. No Second Fake Out For Invested Fans

However, the majority of fans are leaning heavily towards Glenn being the man to meet Lucille in Season 7 Episode 1.

While the unpredictability factor wouldn't play a part, it would guarantee a powerful (albeit later than hoped for) storyline rather than another fake out.

Fans deserve more respect than to be put through another tease. Glenn's contrived return in Season 6 was a cynical move on the writers' part and after so much evidence has been stacked on Glenn dying, another near escape may be too much to swallow.

7. Sticks To The Source Material

If you know nothing about the Negan bat death from the comic books, if you're yet to read through any spoilers splattered across every inch of Walking Dead web space, then it must be a rather enormous rock you've been cowering beneath.

Glenn is indeed the man to take the bat in the comics, and despite many deaths being dropped or swapped from comic to TV show, leaving out one of the most iconic and savage scenes from the source material could cause a lot of upset.

Many fans of the comic books would feel short-changed if one of the biggest storylines was averted and the death passed onto another character, and as with almost every translated show or film, the source material usually knows best. Glenn was always intended to die now.

6. Big Death Required

Quite simply, Glenn finds himself in a ripe category earmarked for death. I personally believe Rick to be the only man, woman or child guaranteed to survive until the end.

This is Rick's story and everyone else is peripheral. That makes everyone disposable, and while anybody can (and will) die at any moment, Glenn's huge stature would provide the show with an enormous amount of drama.

It would bring back the fear factor that truly anybody can die with a moment's notice. And his death would arguably cause the greatest effect among the fanbase after Rick and Daryl - a man who simply can't be killed for his importance to the story *cough* merchandise *cough*.

5. Justify The Cliffhanger

Replay that entire end scene in your head. It's a savage situation of enormous importance, where Negan presents himself to the group, to the fans, to the show. He bludgeons a bit hitter to death and fans are forced to wait seemingly endless months for the resolution.

Now skip forward to the Season 7 Premiere. How would you feel if Eugene, Rosita or Sasha took the bat? After the initial excitement at seeing one of three dull characters finished off, you'd realise the scale of the anti-climax. It would be disappointing if Glenn WASN'T killed off after all of the fuss made.

With Rick all-but guaranteed safe passage, it leaves Daryl and Glenn as the only two characters with a great enough stature to justify the wait. Daryl is the crown-jewel of the TV show as he was solely created for the screen, so it's highly doubtful he'd go. Anybody but Glenn wouldn't feel right, the drama of the death wouldn't feel satisfactory.

4. Gives Maggie Room To Step Up

From a story point of view, I've been championing the rise of Maggie for some time now. She simply deserves to be given a role among the elite members of the group with the same status.

Season 6 made big strides towards that as Maggie became the group's 'politician' for lack of a more appropriate term but here's hoping she can go into full-blown vengeance mode if Glenn is killed.

She will have the baby next season (fans can only desperately hope there isn't a double tragedy) and then we could be about to see Maggie mirror Rick's descent into ruthlessness and grow to the highest platform.

3. Prevents Overcrowding In The Group

Rick is the main man, Carol is the leading lady, then there's a chasing pack chock-full of similar stature characters jostling for position. Daryl is a massive, massive part of the show; a distant yet loveable rogue. Morgan provides an immense balance of morals and provides genuinely tough questions for the group.

Then there's Jesus, the newest major character to align himself with the main group of survivors. He has a long-term aura about him, and if that's the case, he'd comfortably grow into Glenn's shoes over time.

We've already seen Jesus out in the world scavenging for anything he can find. He's a resourceful character, very similar to Glenn. Neither are particularly brawny, but both are resilient and can hold their own in a fight, but it is their intelligence, their determination and their general good nature that would see Jesus slot into the Glenn void, if that were the case.

2. Adds Weight To Negan

One of the most important aspects of the death is not related to the victim in the slightest. This is all about Negan's reputation.

Sure, we wouldn't see Glenn any more, but Negan would absorb his stature and set him on the path to becoming the biggest true villain in the show's history.

If Negan eliminated Eugene he'd seem like a failure as he would've missed his clean shot at a big player in true Hollywood style. If Negan strikes Glenn down, however, the entire fanbase would be put on red alert for what he could mean to the group.

1. Double Death

To conclude with a curveball, there's every chance The Walking Dead could head down the route of bumping off two characters, but that certainly wouldn't save Glenn - he'd just be a perfect member of the group to extract maximum shock from the situation.

The apparent inevitability of Glenn's death could provide a big shock if a lesser character took the bat. Fans would be relieved to see him survive, albeit slightly disappointed they waited such a long time for a side character to go... Then BOOM... Negan's wrath boils over into killing Glenn when all appears safe.

The first scene of Season 7 simply has to be the bat death, but doesn't it seem a little wasteful to get rid of Glenn in the opening minute, with an entire episode left to sit through before fans can mourn? Killing another character first would set the tone, before Negan fully eliminates Glenn at the end of S7E1.

First it could be Maggie, it could be Abraham, it could even be Michonne. Who knows? But while the world is asking WHICH character is going to die, it would be incredible to see TWD reply with the answer to HOW MANY characters are going to die...

Agree with this list? Who do you think will/should die, and why? Share your thoughts down in the comments.