The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus explains just how different his Daryl Dixon spinoff series will be compared to the original show. Reedus has played the role of Daryl on The Walking Dead since its third episode, becoming a mainstay on the show up through its eleventh and final season. While the flagship series is set to end in November of this year, Daryl's story will continue in a spinoff set in France, which sees the long-time survivor allying with new characters.
Originally, Reedus was expected to be accompanied by Melissa McBride's Carol Peletier, another hardened survivor and one of the few characters alongside Daryl to have appeared in every season of The Walking Dead. However, McBride announced in April that she would be exiting the spinoff. Despite her departing the series, the Daryl spinoff has continued its production in France. Aside from its location and basic plot details, little is known about this latest chapter in the Walking Dead universe, save for that it will be one of many upcoming spinoffs.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about the new spinoff, Reedus teases a unique experience for viewers of The Walking Dead. Reedus admitted that ideas for the spinoff "changed directions multiple times" during production, in large part to ensure a new experience for the audience. He emphasized just how distinct Daryl's adventures in Europe would be compared to what viewers may be used to in The Walking Dead:
We knew we wanted to make a show that went in the opposite direction, just because we didn't want to do the same thing. And it's going to be way different. The story's way different. The characters are way different. There's a different tone, there's different light, there's a different sound. It's a whole different vibe. This is going to be f***ing epic.
Reedus' excitement for the uniqueness of Daryl's Walking Dead spinoff bodes well for waiting audiences. This includes viewers who may be watching out for the other two Walking Dead spinoffs AMC has planned for next year, including the recently retitled The Walking Dead: Dead City starring Lauren Cohan as Maggie Rhee and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan. While McBride's absence from the spinoff is saddening, Reedus seems pleased with the direction the series is heading. Underscoring the show as "different" opens up the possibility that other incoming spinoffs will have their own look and feel unique to the series' parent show and to one another. As some have begun to worry about audience fatigue surrounding the series, keeping things fresh going forward will be key.
The promising distinctiveness of The Walking Dead's Daryl spinoff implies the show will be giving audiences a new experience they've yet to see from the zombie franchise. It's possible that Daryl's adventures in France may pull from the final scene of The Walking Dead: World Beyond, which revealed the existence of stronger, faster Walker variants. That would certainly make for a new kind of adventure. There's also the mystery of how Daryl will get to France from Virginia, a question that could be answered by coming into contact with the CRM, the large group that abducted Rick Grimes in season 9 of the main series. Whether Daryl's story pulls from these parts of the franchise remains to be seen, but should be revealed when The Walking Dead spinoff airs in 2023.
Source: EW