The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Deleted Scene Revealed

It's always fascinating to learn about changes that occurred in The Walking Dead TV series. For instance, we previously reported on how Andrea's death scene was changed in the season three finale. In the original take, Andrea was still chained to the dentist chair when Milton attacked. Now, while reading through The Walking Dead Magazine Issue #3, we came across another scene that was changed. This particular scene never made it to the filming stage, but it was deleted from the script after Norman Reedus felt it didn't match where he was going with his character Daryl Dixon. Norman Reedus said, "There was an early draft of the script set after finding Sophia in the barn, where Daryl was taking drugs. I got the script and spoke with [season three showrunner] Glen Mazzara and the writers, and I was like, 'Can we please change that? I don't want to take drugs at all. I want to grow up and not be life my brother.' I wanted it to be embarrassing for me to grow up like that, and now that I wasn't under Merle's influence, I hoped that Daryl would become the man that he wanted to be in the first place." We think Reedus made a good call with getting the writers to change that scene. Daryl has emerged as somewhat of a role model for people overcoming difficult situations in their childhood, and for him to take drugs would have been a step backwards. Having now seen the entirety of season three, it was a much more powerful story to show Daryl's evolution into a different type of person than his brother Merle. The Walking Dead Magazine Issue #3 is still available on newsstands, so be sure to check out the full article for more from Norman Reedus.