AMC’s The Walking Dead is coming to an end this October but it is not the end for Daryl and Carol. Back in September of 2020, AMC Network announced The Walking Dead veteran co-stars Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride would return in a spinoff following eleventh and final season of the main series.
The spinoff, co-created by showrunner Angela Kang and TWD Universe chief content officer Scott M. Gimple, would follow the Reedus/McBride duo on a road trip through the zombie apocalypse. Unfortunately, in April, Melissa McBride dropped out of the the Daryl & Carol show, which has been reported to take place in France with Norman Reedus’s Daryl Dixon riding solo.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Reedus teased he won’t be alone for long. The Walking Dead star confirmed Carol and Daryl will reunite at some point down the road.
“Their journey’s not over,” Reedus said. “They will meet down the road. You can pretty much bet all your money. I read all these people whining about it, and I have to just keep my mouth shut, but there will be a lot of foots in a lot of mouths at some point.”
Of course, you can’t go without some folks creating some controversy. Reedus and McBride’s TWD co-star Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays Negan, called out “toxic” Walking Dead fans who blamed Reedus for McBride leaving the spinoff show.
“Attacking norm for crap he has NOTHING to do with? Melissa made a call that was hers alone. She wants/needs a break. Respect that,” Morgan tweeted in April. “Factors involved that are nobody’s business. Norm, who’s given more than anyone to you all. Just SHITTY.” In a follow-up tweet, Morgan added, “Nobody [was] more gutted at Melissa’s decision than Norman. Rumors aren’t from crew. They’re from some asshat who’s never seen a set before. I was there. It was hard on both of them because they do love each other. Y’all make assumptions that are really hurtful. Stop it.”
Reedus did explain back in May that McBride is “taking time off” after The Walking Dead wraps up its final season.
“Twelve years [of The Walking Dead] is a grueling schedule, and she wanted to take some time off,” Reedus said on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. “So she’s doing that, and she deserves it.”
Some details about the spinoff series will says Daryl will go on a mission overseas and facing the variant walkers seen on The Walking Dead: World Beyond.
The untitled Daryl Dixon series is set to premiere in 2023 on AMC. Other Walking Dead spinoff shows are being developed including The Walking Dead: Dead City starring Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and the latest untitled spinoff series starring Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira reprising their roles and Rick and Michonne which was announced during the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con.
The Walking Dead: The Last Episodes premiere on October 2 on AMC and AMC+.
