AMC’s The Walking Dead officially debuted in 2010 with Rick Grimes waking up in the hospital, having essentially slept through the end of the civilized world. From there, he came together with a ragtag group of survivors, who lost and added members over the course of eleven seasons. One of the originals, Daryl Dixon, remains the dude who many (and perhaps most) viewers would want to have their backs when a horde of walkers or hostile humans stumble into town. That character didn’t even exist in Robert Kirkman’s comics, but Norman Reedus not only inspired Daryl but has also kept him kicking (and wielding a crossbow) for all these years and even into France.
In the first season finale of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, the guy who had previously never left Georgia left the Nest to catch a boat that would take him back home. Then freaking Laurent (Louis Puech) persuaded him to stay, and the finale turned to Carol (Melissa McBride), back stateside, looking for her friend and realizing that his bike was there, but not Daryl, and something was very wrong. What else could go wrong? Let’s talk about it.
Plot
AMC recently revealed what feels like a SPOILER-laden trailer, which we will discuss below since these details are clearly out there now.
The second season apparently picks up where the show left off with the second season formally called The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book Of Carol. This won’t be the final season, so don’t expect the reunion to be the end goal. Rather, the third season is already filming in Spain, and a fourth possible season is in the cards.
With that said, we already watched an unconscious Daryl wash ashore in France last season after being put out to sea on a rowboat. He spent the season not knowing the language but beginning to form a bond — still platonic, but they do appear to be attracted to each other — with a former partier turned nun, Isabel (Clémence Poésy). The season took them on an odyssey to reach the Nest (located at the real-life tidal island commune of Mont Saint-Michel) to bring Laurent, who is the subject of whispers that he’s the second coming, to safety. Daryl decided that it was time to go home, but of course, that did not happen, and now, Carol is going to arrive in France. How will this happen?
As Deadline previously hinted, Carol will join forces with Ash (Danish Dayal), an engineer/pilot who has a single-engine plane and makes “mysterious visitations to his backyard greenhouse.” He’s totally keeping his zombified family in there, right? More importantly, the aforementioned trailer shows Ash and Carol flying into France, which is very comical but still possible in such a plane. It’s certainly not as inconceivable as Daryl simply waking up in France after sleeping through a boat ride, so audiences have shown that they will roll with whatever this show gives them.
Additionally, showrunner David Zabel recently told SFX Magazine that ‘shippers shouldn’t expect Carol and Daryl to ever become Caryl:
“The obvious thing to do, and the easier thing to do would be, ‘Okay, now they’re falling in love and they’re a couple.’ But I always felt like that would be a mistake, because it would feel like you were going into the TV book of tricks,” he explains. “To me, there was never a question that [their connection] was something other than what it is, and what it seems to want to be, and why it works so well.”
Will Daryl ever hook up with, say, Isabel instead? Sounds more likely:
“[T]here are obviously moments of mutual interest, and more than friendship that seems to be developing. Norman and I talked about this, that we wanted to draw a mature, adult relationship between a man and a woman and see where it went. Let’s just put these two characters, who are very different in very interesting, intriguing ways, force them together by the story facts, and then see what happens.
“What happened in season one was that you could see a connection forming, for sure. We didn’t manufacture that but we left room for it. A lot of season two is about the development of that and where that relationship goes, and that little surrogate family of Isabelle, Daryl and Laurent.”
And to refer back to the trailer again, Daryl does suggest that he, Isabel, and Laurent leave France together and go to the U.S. Well, the old Daryl would never think of such a thing, but on the downside, we will soon see plenty more of the show’s rather annoying lead villain, according to the synopsis:
The new season picks up where The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon left off, following fan-favorite characters Daryl Dixon (Reedus) and Carol Peletier (McBride). They both confront old demons while she fights to find her friend and he struggles with his decision to stay in France, causing tension at the Nest. Additionally, Genet (Anne Charrier)’s movement builds momentum, setting Pouvoir on a violent collision course with the Union of Hope in the fight for France’s future.
So, Daryl and Carol will get their previously pitched on-the-road show, after all. Also, Reedus is boldly promising that “[t]he finale of Season 2, the last episode, is the best one-hour of ‘Walking Dead’ television ever, like ever, in everything.” If this guy didn’t embody Daryl Dixon, nobody would listen to a promise like this, but in Norman and Daryl we must trust.
Cast
Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride are headlining, of course, and the second season will bring back Clémence Poésy and Louis Puech Scigliuzzi as Isabel and Laurent. Anne Charrier will still appear as Madame Genet, the leader of a shadowy organization running unwise experiements, and if you’re like me, you’ll keep hoping that she will simply stumble into a mine full of walkers.
Meanwhile, Manish Dayal picks up the role of the pilot, and from the looks of the trailer below, that plane might not go anywhere else once it hits France.
Release Date
On September 29, AMC will begin the process of reuniting the best friends of the franchise.
Trailer
Are you sure you want to watch this trailer? Sure, go ahead.