The Walking Dead’s Lynn Collins: “Keep Watching” to Find Out if Leah Returns to Daryl

They found love in a Rick-less place, but can Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Leah (Lynn Collins) find their way back together on The Walking Dead? Starting in the present-day aftermath of the Whisperer War, “Find Me” rewinds the clock to five years ago and returns to those six years Daryl spent away from the group trying to find the missing Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). It’s revealed that a sometimes rocky romantic relationship developed between Leah and Daryl during this time — making her Daryl’s first love in the zombie apocalypse, and maybe his first partner ever — but Daryl couldn’t call off his search for his “dead” brother and Leah disappeared.

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Leah for sure fell in love with him. If it wasn’t the apocalypse, would these two be a match? Who knows,” first-time Walking Dead guest star Lynn Collins told TV Insider. “In some ways, these two are so similar. Both have lost so much and both cope with that loss by isolating themselves. And yet there’s no way to get away from each other. It’s so meant to be.”

Daryl and Leah’s relationship develops over a few years, and they first meet four years before the events of “Find Me.”

“A lot of us, as fans watching the episode, are like, ‘Whoa, this happened so fast!’ But it doesn’t. It takes a couple years for these two to broach even friendship,” Collins pointed out. “It’s a long haul for them, and in some ways, isn’t that how good relationships are formed?”

Leah ultimately opens up about the death of her son, Matthew, and the losses that led her to live alone in a cabin in the woods. When his Rick recovery mission gets in the way of his relationship with Leah, Daryl figures out too late that being with her is where he belongs — and he returns to the cabin to find Leah long gone.

Is Leah dead, or is she still out there somewhere? Did someone take her, or did she leave?

“We’re just going to have to keep watching! I think the writers have done an incredible job with those six episodes, so if it does progress, we’re in for a treat,” Collins teased. “And if it doesn’t, there are all sorts of other options where this could go.”

Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for all things TWD. New episodes of The Walking Dead extended Season 10 premiere Sundays at 9 pm ET/8c on AMC.