Norman Reedus has compared his upcoming series, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, stands apart from the parent show that came before, a show the 54-year-old actor had been involved in for the best part of thirteen years. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Reedus said they were “making art” for the spin-off, set within the ruins of a post-pandemic Paris and a hotspot for new variations of zombies.
“I think with doing a show as long as The Walking Dead for that many years, whether you know it or not, you fall into a rhythm of repeating things that work,” Reedus says. “I found myself saying some of the same lines over and over, and did all the other sorts of storylines that we had done before, maybe with another character or whatever.”
“Now, we’re not following anything,” Reedus explained. Without the comfort of source material to guide them, the spin-off can take a direction independent from the parent series. Reedus defines the show as “unique” and one that will “speak for itself”
“I feel like we’re not cranking it out for numbers on a Sunday night,” Reedus said. “It’s a different animal and it’s beautiful, it’s touching, and it’s sort of amazing to look at and listen to and watch and feel.”
The actor further reflected on his tenure in The Walking Dead. “I was part of a giant machine that was awesome,” he says. “With this, there’s something really personal to me about what we’re doing, and it just feels so right. We have all the elements of The Walking Dead that people love.”
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon debuts on AMC on September 10, 2023, and stars Mellisa McBride, Clémence Poesy, Adam Nagaitis, Romain Levi, Laika Blanc Francard, Anne Charrier, Eriq Ebouaney, and Louis Puech Scigliuzzi.
