Melissa McBride drops out of The Walking Dead Daryl and Carol spin-off

A Carol and Daryl Walking Dead spin-off without Carol? It looks like AMC is going to have to figure it out, because Melissa McBride has officially bowed out of the TV series she was planning with costar Norman Reedus.

The new series will now focus on Reedus' Daryl Dixon, EW has learned.

"Melissa McBride has given life to one of the most interesting, real, human and popular characters in The Walking Dead Universe," an AMC spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday. "Unfortunately, she is no longer able to participate in the previously announced spin-off focused on the Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier characters, which will be set and filmed in Europe this summer and premiere next year. Relocating to Europe became logistically untenable for Melissa at this time. We know fans will be disappointed by this news, but The Walking Dead Universe continues to grow and expand in interesting ways and we very much hope to see Carol again in the near future."

Jace Downs/AMC Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride on 'The Walking Dead'

When AMC announced back in September 2020 that the main Walking Dead show would be coming to an end with an expanded season 11, the network also said McBride and Reedus would be returning for their own spin-off — as it turns out, one of multiple spin-offs being developed.

"There's been talk for a long time about a Darryl-Carol spin-off," The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang, who's also aboard to run this new series, said shortly after. "And so that was something that we were working on well in advance of the news about the ending of the series."

She added, "They're going to be off on a different journey. And that show's going to feel hopefully a little tonally fresh. They're just in a different stage of their lives and it's more of a road show, which I think will be really fun."

Could this possibly mean bad things for Carol in The Walking Dead's final season? Fans could pretty much tell who would be alive by the end of it all based on which actors were getting spin-offs. Is doom now in the cards for our favorite cookie baker?

As of now, an anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead has amassed a cast of returning and brand-new actors, and Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan will reunite for their own New York-set spin-off.

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