The Walking Dead is incomplete without Andrew Lincoln’s protagonistic character Rick Grimes. Similarly it’s hard to imagine the show without Norman Reedus’ Daryl Dixon, or his on-screen best friend, Carol Peletier, played by Melissa McBride. Over the years and throughout the episodes, these original characters have been embedded in the hearts and minds of the devout fans of the show.
AMC’s The Walking Day is one of those shows that had had a fabulous run throughput. Debuting in 2010, the post-apocalyptic zombie horror drama had many immaculate character developments and the series has given birth to several spin-off series including, Fear the Walking Dead, Tales of the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: Dead City, and most recently, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. However, Dixon was not a character from the original comic book The Walking Dead was based on.
Norman Reedus’ Daryl Dixon Was Not In The Comics
Norman Reedus’ Daryl Dixon was indeed a fitting portrayal of the grandness of the narrative. However, Daryl Dixon can not be found in the original comic book series created by Robert Kirkman. However, Frank Darabont, one of the show’s original developers, created the character of Dixon after Reedus’ audition for Merle Dixon, albeit the role was already gone to Guardians of the Galaxy star, Michael Rooker.
“I went to Los Angeles for pilot season and that’s where all the TV shows are cast and first thought of and, um, I went out there and was just stacks of scripts it was buddy buddy, roommate drama, cop drama, lawyer drama and then Walking Dead it was so original but I heard all the parts were cast and I just said you know let me come in and audition for anything and I’ll play a day on it because it’s so good,” Reedus said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
The actor further said that he wanted in for any role and that propelled him to try out Merle Dixon’s lines in the audition. “I went in and I read those lines and knowing that that part was taken,” he added.
“And then I went back to New York and they had me do it again reading different Merle lines and then when I left, I got a phone call that Frank created a new character so that’s how that happened.”
Arguably, Daryl Dixon is one of the most powerful characters in the show. He has the charisma of a classic biker capable of going to the extreme height to protect the ones he cares about.
Daryl Dixon Went On To Have His Own Show
Thanks to Reedus’ portrayal of Daryl Dixon, The Walking Dead fans have a new spin-off entirely based on his character, while Merle dies in the 15th episode of season 3, This Sorrowful Life, in the original show. After the end of The Walking Dead, Dixon went on to have his own show, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Reedus, who played the character for over 13 years, said, “We’re making art,” with this new show (via EW).
“I think with doing a show as long as The Walking Dead for that many years, whether you know it or not, you fall into a rhythm of repeating things that work. I found myself saying some of the same lines over and over, and did all the other sorts of storylines that we had done before, maybe with another character or whatever. Now, we’re not following anything.”
The actor went on to explain that the new show was quite personal to him. “I was part of a giant machine that was awesome,” Reedus said:
“With this, there’s something really personal to me about what we’re doing, and it just feels so right. We have all the elements of The Walking Dead that people love. There are tears and screams and it’s full of all the things that the original show had — especially those early years of The Walking Dead — but it’s also unique and going to speak for itself.”
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon show was released last year, and it met with decent responses from critics and fans. The show claimed a 71% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Regardless, the journey of the character is no less than a spectacle over the years.
The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is available to stream on AMC+.
