Norman Reedus says his Walking Dead spin-off will be 'f---ing epic'

Dalton Ross
·3 min read
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Norman Reedus says his Walking Dead spin-off will be 'f---ing epic'
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While The Walking Dead show will be wrapping up with its series finale Nov. 20 on AMC, The Walking Dead franchise is, in many ways, just getting started. Several spin-offs have already been announced to premiere in 2023 after the Mothership finally lands after 11 seasons and 177 episodes, but according to the star of one of them, his new series will be following a brand new flight pattern.

Norman Reedus is already over in France for production on his own Daryl Dixon spin-off that is not only a follow-up to The Walking Dead but is also connected somehow to the mid-credits scene from The Walking Dead: World Beyond finale, in which a scientist in an abandoned French lab was shot after watching videos from Dr. Edwin Jenner (from season 1 of the original series) about tests being done on variant walkers.

The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead

Jace Downs/AMC Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon on 'The Walking Dead'

AMC president Dan McDermott says the spin-off will "follow Daryl as he wakes up and finds himself somewhere on the European continent and tries to piece together what happened. How did he get here? How's he going to get home?"

But from the way Reedus tells it, that was not the original plan. "These talks about the spin-off had been going on for two years," says Reedus. "It was a good year before they announced that The Walking Dead was going to end. And over the course of time, it kind of changed directions multiple times."

In fact, when it was first revealed on Sept. 9, 2020, that The Walking Dead was ending and there would be this new series, it was announced as a Daryl and Carol spin-off starring both Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride. McBride eventually dropped out once the location changed to overseas, but it now appears we have not seen the last of her character either, with the actress, Reedus, and Gimple all telling EW during reporting on our Walking Dead Fall TV Preview cover story that there is more Carol story to tell.

Regardless, Reedus explains that his new show will not just be more of the same when it comes to following Daryl in the zombie apocalypse. In fact, it will feel like something completely on its own. "We knew we wanted to make a show that went in the opposite direction," says the star, "just because we didn't want to do the same thing. So that's what we're doing. And it's going to be way different. The story's way different. The characters are way different. There's a different tone, there's different light, there's a different sound. It's a whole different vibe."

The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead

Josh Stringer/AMC Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) with his trusty crossbow on 'The Walking Dead'

Obviously, the action taking place in Europe as opposed to the United States makes the new incarnation stand apart, but Reedus says it's not simply the French setting that will make the new series très magnifique: "I've been going on location scouts here and stuff, but it's even more than just location. It's all the things we love about those characters and those shows, but It's going to be brand new, which I'm excited about."

As excited as the actor is for everyone to see the end of the series that launched him to stardom, he is just as pumped for everyone to enjoy act two of his Daryl Dixon journey. Promises the star, "This is going to be f---ng epic."

Make sure to check out EW's Fall TV Preview cover story — as well as all of our 2022 Fall TV Preview content, releasing over 22 days through Sept. 29.

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