Daryl Leaves Rick in Exclusive ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 9 Premiere Clip

AMC has provided ComicBook.com with an exclusive clip from The Walking Dead‘s Season Nine premiere.

In the clip above, Daryl has taken up a role as leader in the Sanctuary years after Negan’s rule has ended. However, it doesn’t appear he is enjoying his time there. While Rick wants to see him come home to Alexandria as a result, Daryl is looking to head over to the Hilltop instead. With one of Rick’s people needing to take Daryl’s place here, Rick could use his help at home.

While Rick acknowledges that they are not together right now because they have changed, Daryl blames Rick for the changes. He promptly walks away, queuing up some drama for coming episodes before Andrew Lincoln’s exit from the Rick Grimes part.

The Season Nine premiere is titled, “A New Beginning.” The official synopsis for A New Beginning reads, “Rick and his group make a run into Washington D.C. and search for artifacts they will need to build the civilization he and Carl envisioned.”

As it turns out, Daryl actor Norman Reedus stood against Daryl and Rick being at odds when the scripts were presented to him. “I think both of those characters have been in this world long enough where you can only follow someone so long when you don’t agree with what they’re doing,” Reedus told ComicBook.com. “And you know at the end of last season, that very last scene that we shot you know it looks like Jesus, Maggie, and Daryl are going to turn on Rick… I wasn’t in that scene. Maybe an hour before that they’re like, ‘We want to put you in this scene.’ And I was like, ‘What are you talking about? Like I can’t go against Rick, like what are you talking about?’”

With Reedus having been the first to know about Lincoln’s impending departure from the series, there was one big fear he had: “I spent my whole hiatus thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to kill Rick or he’s going to kill me or something.’” If the details of Lincoln’s final scene are any indication, fans of Rick and Daryl’s bromance can breath a little easier expecting neither to lead to the other’s death.

Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. The Walking Dead returns for its ninth season on Oct. 7, 2018. For more updates and insider info all year long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter!