‘The Walking Dead’ hit the television landscape like a bomb in 2010. The zombie genre, which had been dying for years at the time, received a major boost. Audience favorite Norman Reedus, who plays the crossbow-wielding Daryl Dixon, is now getting his own spin-off series. “Since ‘The Walking Dead’ I can no longer go out on the street.”
After eleven seasons The Walking Dead In addition to playing the leading role, Norman Reedus can also produce his own series. So is The Walking Dead : Daryl Dixon a baptism of fire for him as producer of such a large production. “It’s really a lot more work than what I had to do before, but it’s a lot of fun,” says Reedus.
The series begins with Daryl Dixon washing up on the shore in France, where the story continues. “I love France, and I wanted it to be a series where French and Europeans had the feeling that it was really their series. Not an American series shot in France. As a producer, I had to be in France six months before filming to spot locations and cast. I thought it should really have that artistic French touch.”
It has become a unique excursion, after thirteen years of watching the walking dead stagger through America. With 177 episodes The Walking Dead one of the most popular shows on American television in its heyday. The series has already had several spin-offs, video games and web series.
‘There’s a shark named Daryl Dixon swimming in the New York Aquarium, bizarre!’
For crowd favorite Reedus, life was never the same after that: “No one really saw that success coming, and it has dominated my life for 13 years. It’s bizarre that everywhere I go I’m confronted about it. I honestly can’t go out on the street anymore without being approached by fans.”
“The impact of The Walking Dead cannot be underestimated. For example, around the 3rd season I was invited to New York Fashion Week. I didn’t understand why, but when I was there I saw models walking on the catwalk in dresses with angel wings on the back (referring to his outfit with the same print in the series) and thought: oooh, that’s why I’m here!”
“It only got crazier after that. Clothing, lunch boxes and pinball machines from The Walking Dead . And Daryl’s vest hangs in the Smithsonian museum next to Rocky Balboa’s boxing gloves, and a shark named Daryl Dixon swims in the New York Aquarium. It’s bizarre!”
After the first season, all commercials contained zombies, including Coca-Cola’s
Where The Walking Dead After a while it seemed to be past its peak and the viewing figures started to decline somewhat, but the zombie genre turned out to still be full of life. With recent major productions such as Army of the Dead and The Last of Us which were very popular with the general public.
“I have The Last of Us Haven’t seen it yet, but I think without it The Walking Dead there wouldn’t have been those kinds of productions. I remember well that after the first season almost all commercials contained zombies, from Coca-Cola to America’s largest telecom company AT&T.”
With this series, Reedus wants to get back to what it felt like in the beginning The Walking Dead : “We were all still starting talent at the time and therefore quickly bonded. You also saw that in the episodes. I think that’s why it became so successful. Those were just real friendships that were made.”
Bono let me use a song by U2
While his character started as a silent loner, he increasingly developed as a caring leader who became indispensable to survivors. In that regard, this new series for Reedus starts off the same way the original show did.
“Now Daryl is starting all over again, without friends and family. He has to adapt to a new group of people and forms a special bond with a woman and a young girl. There is still a lot of experimenting here, but from the second season (scheduled for 2024) we will step it up a notch. That will also be more in line with The Walking Dead .”
Now that Daryl is practically within walking distance of our borders with his crossbow, the question whether he will still visit the Netherlands was of course quickly asked: “Haha, yes that would be something. I love Amsterdam, it’s fantastic there. But no idea yet. Although I can make quite a lot of choices as a producer. For example, there is a U2 song in the last episode. That song seemed so cool to me that I asked the studio if we could use it. He agreed on the condition that I had to arrange it myself. So then I called Bono personally and asked for permission. He immediately agreed. That’s cool!”
The spinoff The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (6 episodes) can be streamed from this week via Disney+.