Why ‘The Walking Dead’ Fans Are Nervous About Daryl

Fans of The Walking Dead have new reason to fear for Daryl Dixon‘s fate on the AMC series — and it comes from a recent issue of the comics.

Daryl has never existed in the comics. He never will. However, he often adopts stories from other characters in the source material, with some deviations of varying degrees in live-action form. In recent years, Daryl seems to be borrowing heavily from Dwight’s role in Robert Kirkman’s graphic novels, which is alarming given the fate of Dwight in issue #186.

Spoilers for The Walking Dead comics follow. Major spoilers!

It’s no secret that Daryl and Rick Grimes were not getting along after the war with Negan ended. Since Rick left the series via helicopter, Daryl has taken on an isolated life in which he wrestles with the burden of being a leader to the group and avoids it, entirely. Following the All Out War story in the comics, Dwight suffered a similar conflict, going back and forth between Rick’s right-hand man and an overambitious lieutenant.

The problem is, Rick had to kill Dwight when his desire to show the Commonwealth’s people their way became so intense that it lead to an assassination attempt in the foreign community. Long story short, the Commonwealth was introduced as a group of survivors which is 50,000 strong, complete with corrupt political leadership. When Dwight saw a future which entailed Rick’s group showing these survivors a proper lifestyle via executing their corrupt leader, Rick stepped in and shot him in the head to prevent a war.

While Rick probably won’t be back on The Walking Dead to carry out such a story, someone might just be in the place of Rick Grimes should Daryl Dixon get riled up over the Commonwealth’s leadership style. Given the series of events on AMC, it might just be Maggie, considering she is most likely at the Commonwealth right now having left with Georgie in the midst of Season Nine. After all, it won’t be Dwight standing at the Commonwealth unless The Walking Dead merges with Fear the Walking Dead at this new location, seeing as Austin Amelio is headed to Fear for a crossover.

While Norman Reedus promises he wants to be on The Walking Dead through its very last episode, those wishes are not always granted to cast members where being written out is simply a part of the job.

Of course, it is possible The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead are brought together in this Ohio community (should the TV series follow the comics that far) and Dwight carries out the death himself. Then again, the series could deviate from the source material entirely, and skip the significant moment in The Walking Dead‘s December 2018 issue.

Do you think fans of The Walking Dead have reason to worry about Daryl Dixon or is he safe? Should Dwight reunite with his former acquaintances from Alexandria further down the line or are he, Morgan, Alicia, and Strand destined to be buddies over in Texas? Share your thoughts in the comment section!

The Walking Dead returns for the back half of its ninth season on February 10, 2019 at 9 pm ET. Fear the Walking Dead will return for its fifth season in 2019. For complete coverage and insider info all year long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter and watch ComicBook.com’s After The Dead each Sunday night following new episodes.