Norman Reedus has revealed how his character, Daryl Dixon, ends up in France in the upcoming The Walking Dead spinoff series.
"Somehow I get put there. I don’t go there on my free will," the actor revealed during an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! "But, you know, I’ve been out there location scouting and casting and everything for the last couple months and it’s epic. I mean, it’s castles, and moats of castles, and it’s just crazy." He also revealed that the spinoff series, seemingly titled Daryl Dixon, will have "a different sound... a different tone, it'll look different, [and will have] a different photography style."
Daryl Dixon was initially announced in September 2020 with Melissa McBride attached to star alongside Reedus, reprising her role as Carol Peletier. However, McBride departed the series in April 2022 after being unable to relocate to Europe for filming. The project was then redeveloped to focus solely on Daryl.
The Walking Dead executive producer Scott M. Gimple has stated that Daryl will feel like "a fish out of water" in the spinoff series. "If Daryl finds himself with new people, he's a fish out of water. In France, in a country that's going through the apocalypse, [it's] an entirely different thing," Gimple said. "He finds himself having to reinvent himself again, having to find himself again, and also, not being with — probably — the only people in the world he's comfortable with."
The Walking Dead Expands With New Spinoffs
The Walking Dead's eleventh and final season may be concluding later this year, but fans will continue to see their favorite characters on the small screen for the foreseeable future. AMC is developing multiple spinoffs that will continue the stories of The Walking Dead's longest-surviving characters. Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan Smith and Lauren Cohen's Maggie Greene will put their differences aside in The Walking Dead: Dead City, which will chart their exploits through zombie-infested Manhattan. Meanwhile, an untitled Walking Dead limited series will reunite Danai Gurira's Michonne with Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes, revealing whatever happened to Rick after he disappeared in the helicopter at the start of Season 9.
While some fans have felt that the upcoming spinoff series have cheapened any tension the final The Walking Dead Season 11 episodes might have since they know some of the characters who will live to see another day, showrunner Angela Kang has promised that there are still plenty of twists and turns left for fans to discover. "What I hope the audience gets from this is even if they think they know exactly where they think the story’s going, maybe it takes some turns that they’re not expecting," Kang revealed in Oct. 2022.
Daryl Dixon will premiere on AMC in 2023.
Source: Jimmy Kimmel Live!