Norman Reedus On Melissa McBride’s ‘Walking Dead’ Exit: “She Wanted To Take Some Time Off”

Norman Reedus is opening up about his longtime The Walking Dead co-star Melissa McBride’s decision to exit the upcoming planned spinoff, in which she was to star along with Reedus.

Appearing Monday on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Reedus said McBride is taking a much needed break. “Twelve years is a grueling schedule and she wanted to take some time off, so she’s doing that. She deserves it,” said the actor.

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Reedus also hinted he doesn’t feel it’s the end for McBride’s “Carol” character.

“I imagine those characters are gonna meet back up at some point and I might even meet up with some other characters down the road,” he said. “But she’s taking time off and in the meantime, they were like, ‘Hey, you wanna go on a mission?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah! Let’s go on a mission.'”

The so-called Carol-Daryl spinoff, which was to be focused on McBride and Reedus’ TWD characters, is slated for a 2023 launch. The spinoff will be shot in Europe.

In AMC’s statement confirming McBride’s decision to depart the show, the network said “relocating to Europe became logistically untenable” for McBride, but also said it was hoped we’d “see Carol again in the near future.”

The Carol-Daryl spinoff is among several Walking Dead series that are currently in the works, including a New York City-set spinoff revolving around Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan’s characters, Negan and Maggie, as well as anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead. Fear The Walking Dead kicked off the second part of its seventh season on April 17.

Check out the full interview below.

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