“That sucked!”
Spoiler alert: The boy won.
Witness this exchange between the star and showrunner:
Zabel: “Can I say that you love Laurent?
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon on ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon— The Book of Carol’.Stéphanie Branchu/AMC
“Reedus: “No.
“Zabel: “You don’t think he loves Laurent?
“Reedus: “No.
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon on ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon— The Book of Carol’.Stéphanie Branchu/AMC
“Zabel: “Man, come on!
“Reedus: “I don’t think Daryl’s so easy to loveanybody.
I think it’s an earned thing.
“Zabel: “You don’t think Laurent’s earned it?Reedus: “Not like that.
I don’t know that I would fall inlovewith the puppy.
I don’t know the puppy yet.
Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier on ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol’.Emmanuel Guimier/AMC
The puppy would have to earn my love.”
With that, Zabel can only laugh and shrug his shoulders.
“Hey, I tried.
Norman Reedus.Max Montgomery
I knew I couldn’t get away with it.”
If only there was someone Daryldidlove.
Someone with a long shared history built through intense personal trauma.
Melissa McBride.Max Montgomery
Someone whom Daryl did not need to save in rainy traffic.
Someone who would travel across continents against all hope and odds and possible laws of aerodynamics to savehim.
If only that person existed.
Manish Dayal as Ash on ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon— The Book of Carol’.Emmanuel Guimier/AMC
Welcome toThe Book of Carol.
Melissa McBrideremembers the first time the characters Daryl and Carol met onscreen.
“That’s right,” confirms Reedus.
Joel de la Fuente as Losang on ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon— The Book of Carol’.Stéphanie Branchu/AMC
“You had to put down your husband, and I kept handing you a bloody pickaxe.”
It was over the bloody pickaxe that a special bond was formed.
“I kept dipping it in a bucket of brains and blood,” recalls Reedus.
Louis Puech Scigliuzzi as Laurent on ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon— The Book of Carol’.Emmanuel Guimier/AMC
But the love between and for Daryl and Carol goes beyond mere longevity.
“When the show first started, it was all Rick,” says Reedus.
“And then it was the Rick-Shane-Lori triangle.
Anne Charrier as Genet on ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon— The Book of Carol’.Emmanuel Guimier/AMC
So we were sort of in the background a bit.
But our stories were so honest, and people related to them.”
Once the clouds parted, we had an opportunity to regain and reinvent ourselves.”
Clémence Poésy as Isabelle on ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon— The Book of Carol’.Emmanuel Guimier/AMC
She being this kind of meek, oppressed character when we first meet her who becomes this powerful woman.
Max Montgomery
And those circumstances exploded on season 2 ofThe Walking Deadafter Carol’s daughter, Sophia, disappeared.
“Everybody stopped looking for her daughter real quick,” Reedus recalls.
Norman Reedus, Louis Puech Scigliuzzi, and Melissa McBride.Max Montgomery
“With the Cherokee rose story, they really started to connect,” says Reedus.
That was the catalyst of what brought them together in the beginning.
And now she’s coming here to do the same for me.
It’s a great full circle.”
“Which always intrigues me when people complain about, ‘Well, season 2, nothing happened.
It was kind of slow.’
You see Carol broken, and Daryl steps up and makes this valiant effort to go save her.
They’re both broken people who find each other.”
And season 2 ofDaryl Dixonwill revisit the scene of Carol at her most broken.
“I just listened to Melissa talk about her hopes and dreams for storytelling with this character.
And in her mind, there was a lot of unfinished business she wanted to attend to.”
“What I was most interested in tackling was the unresolved feelings of survivor’s guilt.”
“There’s this guilt where if anything happens to him….” McBride trails off.
“So I have to go find him.
And I need help with what I’m going through too, and I need my friend.
He’s the only one that truly understands everything that I’ve gone through.”
Ah, but what about whatDarylis going through right now?
Shifting allegiances (and relationships?)
Season 1 ofDaryl Dixonhad pretty clear-cut sides.
And take one guess who gets caught in the middle.
“Daryl is by nature a doubter in a healthy way,” says Zabel.
And the Nest represents something to him that he’s a little skeptical about.”
“It’s very personal for Daryl,” Zabel notes.
He wants to be free.”
“It’s a magical kingdom,” says Reedus.
“The crew slept in hotels down the road, but I wanted to sleep in the castle.
You could feel the salt water coming in, and the birds flying right by your windows.
You could feel the history.
I slept like a baby there.”
“The Louvre was always a place that we wanted to film,” says Zabel.
And yes, Reedus confirms, “Thatisthe real Mona Lisa” you will see in the show.
But could there be another special lady involved with Daryl in season 2?
Their connection is stronger, their bond deeper.”
That said, Reedus chafes a bit when asked about a possible Daryl and Isabelle romance.
People like to couple people up.
People like to say, ‘Ooh, romance!’
But it’s bigger than that.
It’s bigger than just, ‘Are they a couple or not?
Will they be a couple?
Will they kiss?’
This is a guy who his entire young adult life has been running and fighting.
That’s all he’s done.
He’s never had an opportunity to date or to go through those doors before.
So wherever this ends up, just keep that in mind.”
It was all foreign to me literally.”
Reedus noticed the uncertainty.
“She was a little hesitant when she came here,” he says.
“She didn’t know what to expect, and new places can be scary.
The familiar faces certainly helped.
Their longtime friendship onscreen and off has led to some of the funniest moments in the franchise.
(Think Daryl yelling “You look ridiculous!”
“They have an interesting dichotomy,” says McBride.
“They kind of chafe each other, and then they have this incredible ease.
They’re patient with each other, and they’re impatient each other.”
She pauses and laughs.
“Kind of like me and Norman.”
“Real friends are so important,” says Reedus.
“And wearereal friends.
Wait, is he talking about Daryl and Carol, or Norman and Melissa?
The answer, as always, is yes.
