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The Walking Dead: Norman Reedus reveals favorite storyline coming up

DALTON ROSS 

There is a lot going on as The Walking Dead gets ready to return to action with the second half of season 8 premiering Feb. 25 on AMC. Alexandria and the Kingdom have fallen. Ezekiel has been captured. Carl has been bitten by a walker and appears to be in his final hours. So, you know, things have been better.


Intrigue is happening in a number of places, but while those huge events will certainly hang over the rest of season 8, there is a smaller storyline that merits some close attention as well: the relationship between allies-turned-enemies-turned-uneasy-allies-again Daryl and Dwight. In fact, it’s the plot point that Norman Reedus is most jazzed about of all. “That’s my favorite storyline going forward,” he says.

To recap, Dwight knocked Daryl out and took him prisoner, then Daryl escaped, but doubled back to help Dwight and his fellow Saviors on the run, only to then have Dwight steal Daryl’s crossbow and motorcycle, shoot him, help torture him, and finally help him sneak out of the Sanctuary and offer to help the allies take out Negan. So let’s just say you could call their relationship… complicated.

But while Daryl has definitely gotten the worse of the pairing so far, Reedus sees the characters as two sides of the same coin. “They’re both right. You know what I mean?” says Reedus. “One just knows how to deal with it a little better. The other one is scared. Daryl’s not scared. Dwight’s scared and he makes decisions based on fear, but he’s trying to do the right thing. It seems like it. So you can’t really hate on him. We all do horrible things in this world and Dwight did a bunch of crappy stuff and Daryl gets it, and Daryl knows that Dwight’s operating from a place of fear. Not to give anything away, but I’m very happy with that storyline going forward.”

Wait, does that mean Daryl and Dwight are actually going to become post-apocalyptic buddies after everything that has happened? Reedus immediately pumps the brakes on such talk. “I wouldn’t say that,” cautions the actor. “I don’t think he ever fully accepts Dwight, but he gets it. He gets where he’s coming from, but he doesn’t like him. They don’t like each other. I think one person’s trying to hang out and the other person’s like, ‘Stay the f— away from me.’ You know what I mean? It’s like that whole thing of the snake biting the guy. He’s like, ‘Well, you know I’m a snake.’ It’s kind of like that a little bit.”

The Walking Dead returns Feb. 25 on AMC.