It's only been a few months since The Walking Dead finally clued us in to the fact that Negan killed Glenn and Abraham with his big, scary bat Lucille. In that time, Steven Yeun has already found another gig on Netflix starring in Voltron: Legendary Defender, a new animated series. While promoting the new gig, Yeun revealed exactly what it feels to be done with The Walking Dead, and his reaction may not be what you are expecting. Here's what he had to say:
It's all a little bittersweet. I feel great, though. It feels good to have completed something.
It has to be tough to leave a series that is as popular as The Walking Dead has been on AMC, and while Yeun cops to the whole thing being bittersweet, he seems to have a good perspective on endings in general. It likely helps that Yeun has already signed on for another gig with a new company. Still, what seems like it would be super hard about leaving a show like The Walking Dead is that most of the time, it's not an actor's choice. Steven Yeun left the AMC drama not because he wanted to go or wanted to try out other projects but because the showrunners and creative team felt he was the best fit as a character to find himself in the path of Lucille's wrath---or Negan's rather. Even though actors know that their careers may be short when signing on shows with a lot of deaths, like The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones, it still has to be strange to know you have finished something but that there will still be work done without you.
Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, Steven Yeun also revealed that he knew about what would be going down on The Walking Dead before it happened, which allowed him to take the gig on Voltron: Legendary Defender in the first place. While the first episodes of the show hit Netflix before the big Negan reveal, it wasn't like Steven Yeun was wholly blindsided by the decision. He was able to move on and move on rather quickly. Two seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defender are now available on Netflix.
Although Yeun had gigs before The Walking Dead, it was that series that made Steven Yeun a household name. It increased his equity in the acting business considerably. While there are pros and cons to leaving a series that has made such an impact on television, like The Walking Dead, Steven Yeun seems to have a pretty good perspective on the end of his Walking Dead tenure. To catch the actor doing voice work, catch new episodes of Voltron on Netflix. You can also take a look at what the subscription streaming service has coming up with our Netflix premiere schedule.
