'The Walking Dead' finally got rid of one of the biggest annoyances on the show and fans are cheering

Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for AMC's "The Walking Dead."

"The Walking Dead" just said goodbye to some major characters on last week's mid-season premiere, but Sunday's episode proved the show wasn't done killing off cast members just yet.

While Carl's death may have left fans grossly upset, Sunday's departures left fans cheering after an unexpected development.

Last chance to head back before spoilers.

In a surprise turn of events, Simon marched a group of Saviors to the Scavenger junkyard and slaughtered all of Jadis' clan in front of her.

The move caught fans off guard since Negan told Simon to only kill one of Jadis' group for backstabbing them.

But many fans were delighted to see Simon deliberately disobey the Savior leader.

Many agreed it was long overdue.

Now people are saying Simon may be a bigger threat than Negan. That is, if his days aren't already numbered.

Call them what you want — the junkyard gang, Scavengers, heapsters, garbage people — but Jadis' group long overstayed their welcome on the show.

The only characters who served any importance other than Jadis were her two closest allies, an underdeveloped Tamiel and Brion. The two did more grunting than speaking most episodes. The rest of the Scavengers, of which there were tens, were background characters. 

The group, an extension of one briefly seen in the comics, was first introduced in the second half of season seven when they kidnapped Father Gabriel.

They looked like they may be another worthy adversary for Rick and company, but as they flip-flopped allegiances between Rick and Negan they wound up an underwhelming bunch who weren't adding much to the ongoing war. 

They also started to become an annoyance to the fandom.

Any time they were on screen, fans were bothered by their short, truncated and broken speech. Jadis and her entire group spoke like cavemen only answering in one or two words or broken sentences. 

Executive producer David Alpert told HuffPo their broken speech was reflective of a group of people developing "their own speech patterns and habits" once cut off from the world. Actress Pollyanna McIntosh, who plays Jadis, described it as more of an intimidation ploy on her part to Comicbook.com.

And though Jadis explained to Rick that they just didn't see it as necessary to speak that much, it confused many people who were tuning in to "The Walking Dead" week after week.

As we saw Sunday night, Jadis isn't incapable of forming complete sentences. Similar to Ezekiel, Jadis' group seemed to be putting on a show of its own, something that they needed to survive. 

"It was like a way of life. It was like a new way of surviving that she [Jadis] had come up with and their speech pattern was a part of that,""The Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman explained on aftershow "Talking Dead" about the heapster's broken speech. "But now that everything has been destroyed and she's alone on her own, you know, it's like the jig is up and she's completely broken from that. So, she's given up and gone back to talking normal."

Still, it was just too weird for fans to accept. 

Plus, there was that downright weird scene on season eight's sixth episode where Jadis was painting in the nude. And there was her creepy obsession with Rick. 

The purge of the junkyard gang may be another step in correcting some of the show's mistakes. 

It's interesting this change comes on an episode that is co-written by Angela Kang, who will be taking over as showrunner from Scott M. Gimple during the show's ninth season. 

Perhaps this is the first of many changes we'll see to the show when Kang takes over.

You can follow along with our "Walking Dead" coverage here and sign up for our weekly "TWD" newsletter throughout the rest of the season here.

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