TWD: Norman Reedus Explains Why Daryl Dixon Is in France

It's a question fans have asked since the reveal that Norman Reedus' Walking Dead spinoff takes place in France: how does Daryl Dixon end up in Europe? Will he go missing like Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), whisked away aboard a Civic Republic Military helicopter? Will he go searching like Michonne (Danai Gurira), away on a mission to find a lost loved one? Even Daryl doesn't know the answer. As revealed by AMC chief Dan McDermott, the solo series follows Daryl "as he wakes up and finds himself somewhere on the European continent and tries to piece together what happened. How did he get here? How's he going to get home?"  

"Somehow I get put there, and I don't go there on my own free will," Reedus said on Jimmy Kimmel Live! "I've been out there location scouting and casting and everything for the last couple of months. It's epic. Castles, and moats of castles, it's just crazy." 

The series, which is set and shot in France, has already teased a visit to the post-apocalyptic Eiffel Tower in a preview revealed in a Walking Dead Universe teaser trailer. But that won't be the only iconic location visited in the spinoff possibly titled Daryl Dixon. 

"We're destroying the Louvre and stuff," Reedus said. "It's gonna be nuts."

Scott M. Gimple, AMC's TWD Universe chief content officer, co-developed the planned Daryl & Carol spinoff with current Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang. The franchise veteran producer and actor Melissa McBride dropped out of that show when the redeveloped spinoff moved overseas; Gimple and Kang will serve as executive producers of the reworked series now under first-time Walking Dead showrunner David Zabel (ER, Mercy Street).

"Daryl is a fish out of water to start with. If Daryl finds himself with new people, he's a fish out of water. In France, in a country that's going through the apocalypse, [it's] an entirely different thing," Gimple revealed on The Walking Dead Universe Preview special. "He finds himself having to reinvent himself again, having to find himself again, and also, not being with — probably — the only people in the world he's comfortable with."

While his mission remains a mystery, Gimple confirmed Daryl will be facing the "smarter" walker variants involved in a post-credits scene ending The Walking Dead: World Beyond.

Daryl Dixon is slated to premiere in 2023 on AMC and AMC+ alongside two new spinoff shows expanding the Walking Dead Universe.

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