The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus Fears Daryl Will Die If He Gets Too Happy

The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus admits to worrying Daryl will be killed off if he finds happiness, especially in the form of a romantic relationship.

“Once you do it, it’s done. So it’s just such a topic of conversation forever,” Reedus told EW when asked about a love life for Daryl. “I get it. But once you do that, it’s done forever. So I want to be really careful with doing that and I think Angela [Kang, showrunner] does as well. But it’s The Walking Dead, so as soon as something good starts happening, it all goes down. You know what I’m saying? So I don’t want to get me too happy or I might get bitten.”

Kang says the bond between Daryl and romantic prospect Connie (Lauren Ridloff) continues in Season 10, and director Greg Nicotero is on record saying there’s definitely something there between them. But will ‘Donnie’ take the plunge into romance this year?

“I don’t know. I think he definitely has started viewing her as an equal,” Reedus said. “I mean, she can take care of herself. She’s definitely smart. There’s been moments where Daryl’s going, ‘I’m going left,’ and she says, ‘I’m coming with you.’ And he goes, ‘No, you’re not,’ but she’s like, ‘Try to stop me.’ I think he admires that about her.”

Daryl respects Connie so much he’s started learning sign language, with the deaf Connie joking he signs in a Southern accent.

“She can hold her own and I think Daryl learning sign language is a cool thing so he can communicate with her and they can be allies,” Reedus said. “It’s really fun and she’s helping me a lot on set learning sign, and I’ve made a couple of mistakes here and there but she laughs it off. I think the bond between them is a genuine bond and there’s a lot of respect there.”

“If Daryl Dies We Riot” aside, Reedus and co-star Melissa McBride, who plays Carol, reportedly inked three-year deals late last year. The extended deals for both stars allows AMC to continue utilizing Daryl and Carol in the mothership series or elsewhere in TWD Universe, making it possible for a reunion with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) in the franchise’s first movie trilogy.

For his part, Reedus wants to stay on TWD until the very end. As Beth (Emily Kinney) once predicted, Daryl Dixon just might be the last man standing.

“You know, I started on Season 1 of the show, and I’d love to bookend it,” Reedus previously told ComicBook.com. “I put so much effort into this. For me to walk away now would just seem so cowardly. It’s a fight every day, in a million different ways. But it’s a fight that I’ve been invested in. My family’s here, I like my life here. I like riding my motorcycle through the country to work. I’ve been in New York a long, long time, and now every time I go back to New York I just wanna go back to Georgia.”

New episodes of The Walking Dead Season 10 premiere Sundays at 9/8c on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.