{"id":21566,"date":"2024-10-15T08:50:35","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T12:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2024-10-16T12:08:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T16:08:54","slug":"the-walking-dead-daryl-dixons-norman-reedus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/the-walking-dead-daryl-dixons-norman-reedus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon\u2019s Norman Reedus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many of the original cast members of The Walking Dead<\/em>\u00a0did not survive the hit zombie apocalypse drama\u2019s penchant for suddenly killing off its main characters. Norman Reedus, as Daryl Dixon, made it through all 11 seasons of the AMC drama\u2014being upped to series lead in season nine\u2014and was then tapped for his own franchise extension. In its first season,\u00a0Daryl Dixon<\/em>\u00a0brought its titular protagonist to France. In its second season, which recently launched on AMC and AMC+, Dixon is on a quest to protect a young boy and is reunited with fellow\u00a0Walking Dead<\/em>\u00a0survivor Carol, played by Melissa McBride. While in Spain filming season three, Reedus spoke to\u00a0TV Drama<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>about his journey on the show.<\/p>\n

\"***Image***\"TV DRAMA:<\/strong>\u00a0Where is Daryl Dixon as you embark on season two?
\nREEDUS:\u00a0<\/strong>He\u2019s fully involved with the people that he\u2019s with now. He\u2019s grown very fond of them. He initially took on this task just to get from point A to point B. Because of the circumstances and the situations, he\u2019s starting to care for them. He\u2019s starting to want the best for them. He\u2019s made a promise to look after this kid and get him to a safe place because he\u2019s being chased. He doesn\u2019t think this kid\u2019s going to survive on his own. The world\u2019s a bad place, and he\u2019s got to make sure that they\u2019re OK. So, going into season two, he\u2019s at the height of all of this. He\u2019s just fully engulfed!<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong>\u00a0You\u2019ve embodied Daryl Dixon for 14 years. What have you learned on this journey with the character?
\nREEDUS:\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s a real gift to be able to play a character for this long. Daryl is so different from when he first started on this show. He\u2019s trying to make better decisions. He\u2019s been influenced by the people in his life as he\u2019s gone on this insane journey. Daryl from season one would have just fought someone! He\u2019s got other people to think of besides himself. What\u2019s best for them?<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong>\u00a0The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon<\/em>\u00a0started with you in France. You\u2019re shooting season three in Spain. Has the franchise expanding its geography allowed you to take the character places you couldn\u2019t have imagined at the outset?
\nREEDUS:\u00a0<\/strong>I don\u2019t think Daryl would have ever thought he\u2019d make it to Paris. There\u2019s something [special] with this storytelling, taking that character from those woods and having him look at the Eiffel Tower and the architecture and the way people live there. There\u2019s a great scene in season one where he sees an older couple in a window. He can hear someone playing a cello or a violin. Life and culture\u2014they\u2019re fighting to keep these things. That character has been fighting and running his entire life. Even before the apocalypse, he didn\u2019t like his life. When [his brother] Merle left, he could slowly become a new person. It\u2019s a gift to be able to play a character who evolves. Especially a character who you get so wrapped up in. You have all these theories of what he should and shouldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong>\u00a0Season two sees the return of Melissa McBride as Carol. What\u2019s it been like working with her again?
\nREEDUS:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019ve been waiting for Melissa to show up since I got here. It\u2019s like one of those days you mark on your calendar. Those two characters together are dynamic. They always have been, even when the show started. Those two characters were always looking after each other, checking in on each other, while all this other drama was happening. The best part about that relationship is it\u2019s earned. People watched them earn their relationship. When they meet, finally, it\u2019s earned. The scene had to live up to it. It couldn\u2019t just be, \u201cOh, hey!\u201d You take Daryl at his lowest moment\u2014he\u2019s failing miserably, everything\u2019s burning around him, and he\u2019s trapped. He\u2019s lost. He has one chance to get out, and his headspace is nowhere near running into Carol\u2014and he runs into her. It\u2019s like the world stops. We nailed that reunion.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong>\u00a0Season three was announced before season two premiered. Do you have a sense of how much longer you want to tell the story of Daryl Dixon?
\nREEDUS:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019ve put too much work into this character to just wave to the camera and go home. Here\u2019s the drone shot! It has to be good enough. It\u2019s all a business, but to me, it\u2019s beyond a business. I\u2019ve learned so many things as Norman playing this character. I\u2019ve grown up playing this character. I\u2019ve changed in many ways that coincided with this character. And these two characters together [Daryl and Carol], I want them to have peace. I want them to have a good ending. When people ask, How do you see Daryl\u2019s ending? I used to joke: He walks up over a mountain and a little puppy comes out of the field next to him, and he just follows him, and people go, whatever happened to that guy? I don\u2019t feel like that anymore. I want to see a conclusion.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong>\u00a0You work in features, you\u2019re doing scripted television, you made an unscripted show. What attracts you to projects? Is it all gut instinct?
\nREEDUS:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s gut instinct. I take pictures on a gut instinct. I get interested in things on a gut instinct. Sometimes I\u2019m interested in people and what motivates them and then I can get motivated by that because I like that person, or a time period, or a style of ironworking, or a sofa! It all depends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Norman Reedus, who leads The Walking Dead spin-off Daryl Dixon, discusses his journey in the franchise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":21567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,70],"tags":[9810,4071,167],"class_list":["post-21566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-interviews","category-top-stories","tag-daryl-dixon","tag-norman-reedus","tag-the-walking-dead","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon\u2019s Norman Reedus - TVDRAMA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/the-walking-dead-daryl-dixons-norman-reedus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon\u2019s Norman Reedus - TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Norman Reedus, who leads The Walking Dead spin-off Daryl Dixon, discusses his journey in the franchise.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/the-walking-dead-daryl-dixons-norman-reedus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-15T12:50:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-16T16:08:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/NormanReedus-DARYLDIXON_1024.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"426\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/the-walking-dead-daryl-dixons-norman-reedus\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/the-walking-dead-daryl-dixons-norman-reedus\/\",\"name\":\"The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon\u2019s Norman Reedus - TVDRAMA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-15T12:50:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-16T16:08:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/the-walking-dead-daryl-dixons-norman-reedus\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/the-walking-dead-daryl-dixons-norman-reedus\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/the-walking-dead-daryl-dixons-norman-reedus\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon\u2019s Norman Reedus\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\",\"name\":\"TVDRAMA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\",\"name\":\"Mansha Daswani\",\"description\":\"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. 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