Norman Reedus addresses Melissa McBride’s decision to leave their Walking Dead spin-off
Reedus says his longtime co-star deserves a break from zombies after 12 years
Aux News Norman Reedus
Last week, AMC announced that its Walking Dead spin-off dedicated to fan-favorite characters Daryl and Carol had lost its Carol, with a statement explaining that Melissa McBride—who has played Carol Peletier on the series for over a decade—found it “logistically untenable” to stay attached to the show, presumably because it’s going to be set and filmed in Europe (a huge, life-disrupting move like that is a big ask when you’ve already been doing the job for as long as she has).
We’re saying it seems like an understandable decision on her part, assuming the company line is to be trusted, but a subset of Walking Dead fans jumped to the assumption that McBride refused to work with Norman Reedus—the “Daryl” and “Daryl and Carol”—again. This prompted Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays foul-mouthed designated hitter Negan on the series, to chime in and defend “Norm” against “TOXIC” fans, saying McBride just needed “a break” and that they should “respect that.”
Now, Reedus himself has shared his take, and it’s a predictably gracious response from a guy who apparently now gets to lead his own solo Walking Dead spin-off. Speaking with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, Reedus said that McBride has gone through a “grueling schedule” on The Walking Dead and “wanted to take some time off,” so now she’s “doing that.” He also added that “she deserves it,” so clearly they’re fighting and they hate each other.
But seriously, Reedus also told Fallon that he thinks Daryl and Carol will meet up again “at some point,” and now he “might even meet up with some other characters down the road,” which seems to be a hint about what might happen in this spin-off. Nobody asked us, but we wouldn’t mind seeing Daryl traveling around the post-apocalypse United States all alone, maybe with a magic baby strapped to his chest that can see ghosts.
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The most perplexing part of all of this is the show being set in Europe.
I don’t want to spoil the end of The Walking Dead, but Daryl finally crossbows all the zombies in North America.
Then he and Carol ride a motorcycle to Europe.
The American zombies are all gone. Daryl looks at Carol and says something about taking the big leap together now that things have settled down. A long construction montage begins. We see a quaint cabin that looks too simple for all the work we just saw. The camera pans over to a ramp and slowly zooms out to reveal it towers far over the cabin, making it look more like a playset. An engine revvs and a blur of a motorcycle passes by. We don’t see the jump, but a piece of paper falls to the ground with a crudely drawn map with an X over Scotland.
Like across the ocean because they’re going so fast
It makes some sense if you connect a few dots. The spinoff World Beyond ended with a scene that indicated the zombies were created in France, and that later attempts to “cure” the virus created a smarter faster zombie variant.
I imagine the writers were scratching their head trying to justify how to get these new 28 days later zombies across the atlantic, and this was their solution.
That same scene also established that one team of these french scientists was at a convention in Toledo, Ohio when the outbreak occurred. So right where Daryl is living now.
But it makes no sense if you ask how the hell Daryl is supposed to get to Europe. Society is not back up and running. Why would anyone bother crossing an ocean in this world?Also wait what? The commonwealth is in Ohio and not in Virginia? I really thought everything was taking place in Virginia still what with Alexandria being a city in Virginia, and Virginia famously being a commonwealth.
“Society is not back up and running.”
Why would there be no boats?
Alexandria was not the city, Alexandria. It’s basically a gated community built by a guy named Alexander.
They travelled through Pennsylvania to get to The Commonwealth. They picked up Princess in Philly.
According to everything I can find online, it was an outpost set up by the military in the earlier days of the outbreak just outside of the city of Alexandria, Virginia.
Take a boat I guess. I suppose all the boat fuel should have spoiled but they’ve handwaved stuff like that away before.As for why, maybe this hypothetical french scientist character living in the commonwealth convinces Daryl that she can create a vaccine or something if she gets back to her lab. Maybe she tells him Ricks there for some reason. Maybe she abducts Dog and he chases after them. Who knows.
Yeah the main commonwealth city is supposed to be in Ohio. In both the comic and the show. I don’t think she show has directly said it. But those missing scientists being at a convention in Toledo Ohio is a pretty big sign that that’s where they are.
I’ve never watched world beyond as I’m barely hanging on just to make it to the end of the main series finally. That all sounds incredibly stupid. So definitely the things they will go with.
“how to get these new 28 days later zombies across the atlantic”
I fucking love the arms. Please tell me there’s no like actual evolutionary benefit to that behavior.
“Let’s go somewhere else” makes sense after over a decade, but I don’t think the logistics are going to make any sense at all. Remember when Morgan walked across the country twice in what seemed like a few weeks for no real reason in the middle of the apocalypse?
Transatlantic travel just really doesn’t seem like it would be back up and running yet in the post-apocalyptic world.
“Transatlantic travel just really doesn’t seem like it would be back up and running yet in the post-apocalyptic world.”
You think all the boats became zombies?
He was looking for the last Twinkies.
Apparently they’ve been overwhelmed, and they’ve been underwhelmed, so now they’re just going to be whelmed.
“The most perplexing part of all of this is the show being set in Europe.”
Why? The zombie apocalypse killed off all the boats?
Not really. The people in charge of this IP have done everything possible to avoid American actors for a decade.
Reedus says his longtime co-star deserves a break from zombies after 12 years..but do we?
Do we deserve a break?I, for one, have been on a break from The Walking Dead for years.
Instead of focusing on the Daryl-Carol pairing, the spin-off will now be centered on Reedus’s character reuniting with his other brother, Darryl.
This is our other brother, zombie Larry.
Given how infectious and transmittable this zombie outbreak is, will Daryl be required to wear a mask on his transatlantic flight?
Negan says it’s now just something you have to be prepared to live with.
Norman Reedus is leaning hard into the Johnny Depp thing of an old and weathered face with far-too-young hair.
Every time I see him I get major Chris Gaines vibes.And look, kids, I know I’m all about bringin’ you young’uns knowledge from the dark and distant past before you were born, but if you don’t know who Chris Gaines is…don’t google him. Don’t look him up.Oh, sweet gentle Jesus, do not find out who this is if you don’t know. Please.
Heya Brucey.
“Lost In You” is a jam
It’s Garth Brooks. Big fucking whoop.
And if got you Diane Kruger, then you’d do the same….
“He also added that “she deserves it,” so clearly they’re fighting and they hate each other.”
Well, if a Hollywood actor said it on a Hollywood late night show then it must be true.
Um, so…La Jiggy Jar Jar Doo?
Now AMC can bring back Lodge 49!
He’s too doughy for that do.
The French have been hearing stories about the zombie killing prowess of Monsieur Arbalète. They finally went and got him.
Who is this show for? I don’t understand. The ratings for the original series have fallen off a cliff and there’s already (2?) other spin-offs.