TWD: Daryl Dixon Showrunner Reacts to Ruined Finale Surprise, Teases Carol’s Season 2 Adventure

Finally, the worst-kept secret in the Walking Dead-verse is no longer a, um, secret. But even though we knew that Melissa McBride would be turning up at some point in Season 1 of Daryl Dixon — thanks for the heads-up, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, well ahead of the official announcement! — you’ve gotta admit that her appearance in the last moments of the finale was still a thrill. (Read the full recap.) Here to discuss with TVLine, McBride’s future as Carol, as well a Laurent’s “specialness” (or lack thereof) and the experiments that connect the spinoff to World Beyond is showrunner David Zabel.

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TVLINE | Obviously, Melissa showing up in the flesh as Carol was meant to be a big surprise. How bummed were you that those photos got leaked all the way back in June?
I was too busy to focus too much on that. She was in France to film that scene — we shot everything in France pretending to be America — but I didn’t pay that much attention to leaks and rumors on the Internet.

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TVLINE | Is it safe to assume that she will be a major player in Season 2?
Suffice it to say that everybody here has always loved both the actress and the character, and always wanted to keep her part of the world. Obviously, you can see the ways in which we’re trying to do that and continue her story in some way in the future. Anything more than that, you’ll have to show up for Season 2 and see what happens. (That, or you can read what AMC said after this interview was conducted about Season 2, which is being called The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol.)

TVLINE | Are you able to say what the hold-up was that kept Melissa from being a part of the show from the beginning?
Honestly, that was before my time. I heard something about it, but that’s really a question for [chief content officer] Scott Gimple. By the time I came on board, the idea was, “Daryl Dixon’s in France. What’s the story, David? And… go!” I wasn’t around when there were other conversations happening. I was thrilled later when I first met Melissa, and she agreed to do what we did in Season 1 and keep the story and character alive.

TVLINE | In the finale, Codron finally got Daryl and Laurent in the crosshairs… but didn’t shoot. Should we take that as a clear sign that yep, Laurent is some kind of messiah?
I don’t like to interpret for the audience what they should get. As a writer, we’re clearly trying to suggest things and stimulate thought and feeling, but I don’t want to [come out and say one way or the other] for the audience.

TVLINE | In other words, Codron could have just wanted to not shoot a kid, right?
I will say that even in creating antagonists, I want them to have at least something that we can relate to. In terms of Codron, you see it when he has to brain his own brother and later in this moment — this kind of humanity that’s buried underneath a lot of this other negative stuff peeking through. For me, the whole show was about that. It was a very pointed effort by the writers and me to say, “Let’s not just sink into darkness and gloom and gore. Let’s find the pockets of hope.”

TVLINE | Even if you never confirm it for the audience, do you have it set in your mind whether Laurent is “special”?
Yes. I and a lot of the other writers on the staff, we have a pretty clear idea of who Laurent is and what he represents. The storyline as laid out right now continues to circle the airport on that question. We continue to sort of dig in and get closer and closer to answering the question of whether Laurent is what a lot of people want him to be or if he’s just a wonderful little boy who has come to encapsulate the hopes and dreams of a people who are desperate to believe in something.

TVLINE | Are there any plans to reveal how Genet went from working at a museum to basically running France?
There will be an episode that digs into her backstory in a really compelling, exciting way. It will also take us back to see some of the dawn of the apocalypse in France. That’s a great Season 2 episode.

TVLINE | Presumably, Season 2 will also reveal more about the experiments that are turning walkers into the Cocaine Bear of zombies, yes?
[Laughs] That’s good. Yes, we certainly keep that story going as part of the Genet element, and we start to sort of dig into what they’re doing with those walkers, why they’re doing it and how they’re trying to improve on their experimentation.

TVLINE | Which in some way ties back to the ending of World Beyond (recapped here).
Yes, tied just a little bit to the finale of World Beyond, because there was the suggestion of something interesting happening with the French scientists at the dawn of the apocalypse. We didn’t make it too on the nose in connection with that, but it certainly inspired thought and we wanted it to sort of line up in some ways with the fans who are so diligent that they were paying attention and recall that.

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