Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead season 11, episode 10.
The Walking Dead has addressed an important question posed by Michonne’s exit in season 10, but the answer could cause complications for Daryl’s future in the franchise. After ending the battle with the Reapers, the series has begun new chapters in the lives of the main characters, including Daryl (Norman Reedus). Now, Daryl’s focus is on making things work in the Commonwealth for the benefit of the Alexandria community and Rick’s children.
The show appears to be building toward a major conflict between Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Daryl. The Walking Dead season 11 part 2 premiere revealed that Daryl will lead Commonwealth soldiers in what looks to be an assault on Alexandria. Based on what’s known about his future, fighting with Maggie isn’t the only thing that the franchise has in store for Reedus’ character. It’s been confirmed by AMC that the network is developing a spinoff for Daryl and Carol (Melissa McBride), which means that more stories are left to be told for both characters after The Walking Dead ends. The spinoff announcement implies that the two will eventually leave Alexandria and the Commonwealth behind them.
A reveal in The Walking Dead season 11, episode 10, titled “New Haunts” creates an issue that could stand in the way of Daryl one day leaving with Carol. Daryl’s scenes in the episode confirmed that he’s been acting as the guardian to Judith (Cailey Fleming) and RJ. He was shown to be living with them in the Commonwealth. This does make sense, especially when considering how close Judith is to Daryl and how much he cares about both of Rick’s children. After Michonne exited the show in season 10, it wasn’t made abundantly clear who was taking care of them in her absence. Now, it’s known that Daryl is currently filling that role.
But while it’s perfectly fitting for Daryl to raise Judith and RJ, this might be a problem later on down the road. By becoming their guardian, Daryl has created ties to Alexandria that can’t be easily broken. In other words, he can’t just get on his motorcycle and ride off with Carol in The Walking Dead series finale anymore. To do that would be to abandon children who depend on him. Of course, it’s likely that he could get someone like Rosita (Christian Serratos) or Aaron (Ross Marquand) to take them in, but it’s still hard to imagine Daryl leaving them behind. After all, they already had to deal with Michonne not coming back, so Daryl naturally wouldn’t want to put them through that again.
In order for Daryl’s spinoff with Carol to even work, The Walking Dead will now have to give him an incredibly compelling reason to leave. The only one that would suffice would be finding out that Rick is still out there. He could leave with Carol to find him. Or, he could bring Judith and RJ along to reunite the children with their long-lost father.
The Walking Dead releases new episodes on Sundays on AMC.