For those who worried about The Walking Dead losing steam (and yes, those final few seasons of the principal series did drag), that fear has been put to rest with the three newest spin offs’ success in differing realms. Dead City veered into the more visceral side of the franchise, and The Ones Who Live did the same while crossing over into life-affirming territory. Whereas Daryl Dixon travelled around the world with the most endearing ass-kicker of the original crew while delivering genuinely funny scenarios amid ever-present peril.
Oh, and Daryl actually took a bath, too, which I thought would never happen. Later, the crossbow-wielding secret softie had a chance to hop onto a ship and travel back home, but he surprisingly chose to stick around, so let’s look at the clues so far on this spin off’s second season.
Plot
The first season finale revealed that Daryl (Norman Reedus) decided to heed the wishes of Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi), who might be the second coming or something, and stay in France despite disappointing Sister Isabelle (Clémence Poésy), who had already asked him to do the same. That coincided with Carol (Melissa McBride) demanding answers from a-holes after realizing that Daryl’s bike had been appropriated with him nowhere to be found. Presumably, she will receive that information without too much trouble — ever since the terrifying Terminus arc, zero debate exists that Carol can perform daring rescue missions — and forge off to find her friend.
It’s a remarkable turn for those who wanted to see this show’s most incredible platonic duo back together, but it’s also a delicious development upon looking back at Carol’s entire trajectory. She went from an abused housewife to an outcast (thanks, Rick) to the fifth-season MVP. Carol never did lose that edge, not even while married to “King” Ezekiel, and if we fast forward to her latest mission, AMC’s official description for the Daryl and Carol show is as follows:
“[T]hey both confront old demons while she fights to find her friend and he struggles with his decision to stay in France, causing tension at the Nest.”
Will Carol land at the Nest? She does deserve a little rest and relaxation, and perhaps Daryl can peel a potato for her. I’d also like to see Carol knifing walker skulls with the Lourve in the background, although I’m not sure that this spin off’s characters will have a reason to return to Paris. We can hope for that and cross fingers that the circumstances of Carol’s travels are comfier than Daryl’s were while dozing atop a rowboat and washing ashore. More possible clues on that will be found in the casting section below.
Cast
Obviously, Reedus and McBride will be the main attraction, and we should see at least some of Clémence Poésy and Louis Puech Scigliuzzi. Additionally, the show has cast Manish Dayal for a recurring role. According to Deadline, The Resident actor will portray a Bostonian engineer whose locality lends some intrigue:
Dayal will play Ash, an engineer from Boston who moved to the family weekend house in Maine after the onset of the apocalypse. Ash lives by a strict schedule based mostly around his daily flights in a retrofitted single engine plane and mysterious visitations to his backyard greenhouse.
Does Ash end up in France as well, or will Daryl and Carol end up encountering him stateside? Maybe a more interesting hunch: he could be of service to Carol in her efforts to find Daryl — it is reasonable for a single-engine to cross the Atlantic, and it’s not like Carol will have too many options to choose from. Yeah, I like this theory.
Release Date
Expect the duo to reunite onscreen in Summer 2024. Hang tight for a firm date.
Trailer
No full trailer exists yet, but a teaser clip shows what Daryl is up to in France while Carol seeks answers about her friend.