“The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon” showrunner explains that Carol cameo

Warning: This article contains spoilers about episode 5 of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, "Deux Amours."

The latest episode of The Walking Dead spinoff Daryl Dixon saw the return of a familiar face. Only we didn't actually get to see her face. Instead, fans were treated to the voice of Melissa McBride's Carol, who communicated with Norman Reedus' Daryl over the radio in a flashback scene while Daryl was working in Maine collecting walkers in exchange for fuel.

While the duo exchanged pleasantries and small talk, the conversation did contain one significant, albeit missing, piece of information when the radio started cutting in and out to only transmit the words from Carol that someone or something "came back." And then the radio died before Daryl could get the answer.

Jace Downs/AMC Melissa McBride and Norman Reedus in the series finale of 'The Walking Dead'

The Carol cameo is a significant event indeed considering that McBride was originally supposed to costar in the spinoff with Reedus, before the action moved to Europe and the actress dropped out of the project. However, Reedus has hinted strongly in several interviews with EW that the pair would be reunited at some point, and this could be the first step in that process. And that reunion has seemed especially imminent ever since Walking Dead costar Jeffrey Dean Morgan posted a photo on social media of the pair with a message hailing their return together.

So what should TWD fans take from this vocal cameo from the fan favorite? We tracked down showrunner David Zabel to get the scoop on that as well as a connection to another Walking Dead series heading into next week's season finale.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: We have this scene where Daryl is talking to Carol on the radio. What can you say about bringing Melissa McBride and this character into the picture — although I guess not literally the picture, but into the story?

DAVID ZABEL: We were always excited with any ways that we could kind of kiss up to the legacy show, to the franchise, and to the history of the characters. And this was obviously a very exciting way, because it was the first time in our show where he had actual real-life literal contact with the world that he was stranded from, and with ostensibly a character who's as close to him as anybody. So it was an exciting way to send out a life raft, so to speak, and connect him to what everybody knows about his past in the United States.

Carol breaks up on the radio, but Daryl hears that someone "came back." How important is that missing nugget of information?

Well, it is important to what her ongoing story may be, and it is important in terms of what we were thinking is going on in Carol's world at that moment. It's also not what the audience expects or anticipates, if they're anticipating something. So it will ultimately prove to be surprising. But that's all based on the idea that we're going to play out that story.

If you are playing out that story, does that mean there will be more Carol on the horizon?

You'll have to watch and see, but we love the character and we want to keep her in the world of the show.

Emmanuel Guimier/AMC A zombie on 'The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon'

At the end of the episode, Daryl's given a weapon, and a zombie is shot with an injection that turns it into a super zombie. What can you say about that injection and what it does to the undead?

Well, it's been something we've been hinting at all along. There have been clues to it played out throughout the episodes prior to this, and it is setting up to be a major obstacle for Daryl in the finale. So it's really setting that up, but it's also setting up a world in which it's a little bit of a kiss to World Beyond, because in World Beyond there was a little bit of a suggestion that there were different kinds of walkers in France. And so we kind of dug into that a little bit in terms of how and why they are different, and how they could be a good foil and a good new opponent for Daryl. So that's really what that's about, and it plays out fully in the finale.

Emmanuel Guimier/AMC Norman Reedus on 'The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon'

What else can you say about next week's season finale?

I'm so proud of the season finale. The season finale has it all. It has drama, it has tenderness, it has intense action, it has heroism, it has difficult moral choices. It excavates some of Daryl's past — some of which we're familiar with, but some of which is new information that we learn about him that refers to a lot of the things that the fans of the show will remember about his relationship with his brother and his family.

So it's a full payoff to the larger story of this epic journey through France, but it's also a full payoff to the intimate story of Daryl as this reluctant hero trying to just get back home. And it ends with a couple of moments that are pretty jaw-dropping.

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