'The Walking Dead' Season 5 Finale Spoilers - Q&A: Cast Member Steven Yeun on Why Glenn Did Not Kill Nicholas

Actor Steven Yeun's character, Glenn, had it very rough in Season 5 of "The Walking Dead."

Being one of the show's oldest surviving characters, Glenn had endured numerous physical and emotional pains since Season 1, including being mauled by Merle (Michael Rooker), nearly getting killed as one of the prisoners of the Terminus cannibalistic society, and suffering from the deaths of Beth (Emily Kinney) Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) and Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman).

Glenn and the other members of Rick's crew finally found hope when they reached the peaceful community of Alexandria. But towards the end of Season 5, they suffered another casualty – Noah (Tyler James Williams) – because of the "incompetence of certain Alexandrians," Variety reported.

Glenn was faced with the dilemma of what to do with Nicholas (Michael Traynor), the coward who got Noah killed and who took a shot at him in the finale of Season 5 of "The Walking Dead" last March 29. The bullet hit Glenn on the shoulder, but he still managed to pin Nicholas down and point his gun on his head.

Variety asked Yeun about his character's decision not to pull the trigger and stick to the "kill or be killed" philosophy of the show's other characters, notably Carol.

"You know, I kind of knew when we were filming that that would be the case, that people would be upset (that Glenn did not kill Nicholas)," Yeun said. "I think it's the difference between how we consume things as a viewer of something fantastical and how the show tries to explore what people would struggle with in this situation."

Yeun said that if Glenn had killed Nicholas, that would have completely changed his personality. "It would've been satisfying to me as an actor to go to that place and kill Nicholas, but I thought it was very interesting and more real to show the struggle through Glenn's eyes," Yeun said.

The Korean actor also explained that if Glenn had killed Nicholas it would be easier for him to kill other people in the next season of "The Walking Dead."

Yeun said his character faced a stark choice on whether to affirm his humanity or lose it. "When he's actually in a situation where he does have to choose whether a person lives or dies he ultimately can't bear to lose himself," he said.

"He wholeheartedly believes Nicholas deserves to die, and says so in Episode 15. I wanted to make sure as he's there holding a gun to (Nicholas') head, it's a struggle for him to decide. He knows once he does it, it's going to be that much easier to go down that path every time in the future," Yeun said.

The actor told Variety that his character is a "nicer man" than he is, when asked if it was not enough of a threat that Nicholas almost killed him by shooting him and throwing him to the walkers. "Glenn is a nicer man than I am. If you were to ask me, things would be different," he said.

Yeun said that in the real world it would have been justifiable to kill Nicholas. "You talk about the world now — if someone kills your friend and tries to kill you, you can claim self-defense as a reason," he said.

In the post-apocalypse world of "The Walking Dead," killing Nicholas would have been easier since there are no rules and no governing body. "You're just governing yourself," Yeun said.

Although Glenn understood this, his conscience ultimately prevented him from acting the role of executioner. "If I shoot this man and kill him, even though I know I've completely destroyed him, what does that accomplish? Other than me losing this part of myself I've maintained up to this point," he said.