The Walking Dead: Why Richard And Daryl's Alliance Just Makes Sense

02/19/2017 01:47 pm EST

The Kingdom may have turned down Rick's request to go to war but one of its soldiers firmly disagrees with his majesty's decision. Since being introduced on The Walking Dead, Richard's stance on the Saviors has been very clear: he wants to kill them all.

In Sunday's new episode, New Best Friends, the loyal Kingdom soldier's efforts toward building an army large enough to take out Negan's bunch of savages. This time around, he is aligning himself with Daryl Dixon, as seen in the exclusive clip from the episode at the top of the page.

Speaking to Richard actor Karl Makinen in an exclusive interview ahead of Sunday's new episode, ComicBook.com got to the bottom of why Richard is so eager to align himself with Daryl.

"If you look at what's happening with Richard, he's trying to find the person to align with, and he's struck out so far, but I think seeing that Daryl, what he just went through, and how the Saviors are after him, and won't think twice about killing him and pretty much anybody he's with, I think that it just makes sense," Makinen said. "Why wouldn't you? He's a good target to go through. He's a warrior, he looks like a fighter, and he has the respect of the original cast. I think that whole thing is really what's driving me to make an allegiance with somebody. I need somebody to get on my side, because, really, you see, you can feel it happening. The end of last season, and then last episode, it's like we all have to get together. It can't just be one person; it just can't be one group. I think it has to start somewhere, and you know, Rick's trying to do it. I'm trying to do it, and so yeah, it just makes sense to align with him."

Of course, Daryl is a character who doesn't exist in Robert Kirkman's comics, so this storyline presents itself as being more unpredictable than many on the AMC series. For Makinen, that isn't an issue. While he is familiar with his character's comic book counterpart, he doesn't allow the books to influence his portrayal.

"As you know watching the show and reading the comics that they don't always align," Makinen points out. "Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't."

"I only get my material, so I try to take with what I feel from that scene and the scenes before, and then I do ask Scott Gimple a couple of questions, and he's always very efficient at giving me great answers to help me get through the scene. So, I try not to think too much about it, but there's certain information that I need, and then Scott's amazing."

In fact, Gimple has offered Makinen such a detailed backstory for Richard that the comics are not a requirement for him to add the necessary depth.

"I remember when I was doing the scene with Morgan and Carol, where I tried to get them on my side to fight against the Saviors, I asked like a background question, like one question to Denise [Huth], who's the producer on the set, and she's like, 'Oh, let me just text Scott,'" Makinen said. "So she text Scott, and I swear, I don't know how fast he must have typed, but within like one minute, he texted back like four paragraphs of a background on my character. It was amazing, and some of it I already kind of thought that that was right, and then some of it he added to it that really helped me along with that scene and going forward. So, yeah, I mean I try to do my own homework and then I do ask questions once in awhile, too, try to make it a little more specific."

MORE THE WALKING DEAD: Season 7 Finale Cliffhanger? / Khary Payton Explains Ezekiel's Decision / Those Epic Zombie Kills Almost Didn't Happen! / Who Dies In New Best Friends? / Surprise Cast Member On Talking Dead

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.

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