Norman Reedus Reveals The Walking Dead Future of Daryl And Carol
Norman Reedus says Melissa McBride will return as The Walking Dead's Carol.
Among what seems to be an ever-growing list of new projects spinning out of the franchise, Norman Reedus will soon have his own show as Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead universe. But sadly the series will be one star shy of what it was going to be. TVLine broke the news in April that while fans were expecting Melissa McBride to join Reedus in the spin-off as Carol, McBride stepped away from the series. The news left fans worried that Daryl and Carol’s time together was over, but now Reedus has confirmed that she’ll be back.
“Their journey’s not over,” Norman Reedus recently told Entertainment Weekly of his The Walking Dead co-star. “They will meet down the road. You can pretty much bet all your money.” The actor went on to express both some frustration at the fan reaction to the news of McBride departing the series, as well as some hope for future vindication: “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.”
You might be a little confused as to why Norman Reedus would express so much annoyance at The Walking Dead fans. After all, why shouldn’t they disappointed that McBride won’t be in the series (at least not at first)? Not to mention that the post-apocalyptic franchise is known for killing off fan-favorite characters, and sometimes in utterly heartbreaking fashion.
But don’t doubt for a second that the actor has his reasons. In the wake of the news, Norman Reedus not only had upset The Walking Dead fans to deal with, but–in spite of a network spokesman’s explanation that McBride had left the series because traveling to Europe, where the series will be filmed, became “logistically untenable” for the actress–hordes of angry fans took to social media to blame Reedus for Carol’s departure. The hate got so bad that both Reedus’s co-star Jeffrey Dean Morgan and AMC spoke out in defense of the star. AMC’s response was relatively measured and diplomatic, while Morgan’s was less polite. He called the behavior “TOXIC.” The Negan actor was clearly angry about the situation, writing, “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.”
So far an official title for the Norman Reedus-led The Walking Dead spin-off hasn’t been released, but in early August some details about the show were revealed. The new series will be set in France where, AMC Chief Content Officer Scott M. Gimple says, Daryl Dixon will find himself with a whole new group of survivors and may be forced to “reinvent himself.” It wouldn’t be the first time the character has to go over that particular hurdle, of course. When he first appears in The Walking Dead, it’s as the brother to Michael Rooker’s Merle. Both start off as two of the most hateful survivors but Daryl evolves, eventually becoming one of the most beloved characters on the series.
