Norman Reedus Shines in Atmospheric The Walking Dead spinoff Daryl Dixon
Photo Courtesy of AMC
We’re getting deeper into The Walking Dead’s post break-up era, and now one of the biggest stars from the long-running AMC hit is taking his show (literally) across the pond with The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. The title pretty much says it all. Norman Reedus has been a fan-favorite on the flagship series for years, and this six-episode miniseries is his chance to fully take the spotlight with a story all his own.
Thankfully, it works pretty well, largely due to Reedus getting a chance to shine without having to split the story with two dozen other series regulars like in the old Walking Dead days. You have likely never heard Daryl talk as much as you will in this spinoff, but Reedus has the chops to make it work. He’s a character fans know and love, and getting to peel a few more layers from his mystery makes for a great concept to build a story around.
As for the story itself? It’s a weird one, but Walking Dead mastermind Scott Gimple & Co. knew what they were doing when they decided to set the Daryl spinoff in Europe for a cross-country trip across the zombie-filled remains of France. The recent Negan and Maggie-led spinoff Dead City took the action to Manhattan with interesting results, and it’s clear some of the promise of these spinoffs is showing how the end times has changed other parts of the world in creative and interesting ways.
We won’t get into the convoluted oceanic contrivances it takes to actually get Daryl to France, because that’s not really the point. The point is that he’s there, and it’s clear from the opening shot why they opted to set this show in Europe and film it on location. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Stunning. You could almost just put it on mute and watch all the pretty pictures and still have a good time—but thankfully the story itself is actually a good one, and a great fit for Daryl.
With Daryl soggily washed ashore on the coast of France, he stumbles upon a convent where he finds himself drafted into helping deliver a special young boy to a safe haven on the other side of the country. As expected (this is a Walking Dead show, after all) there are plenty of threats between here and there, from some new twist on the undead, to a few new human enemies that Daryl makes along the way.
He’s clearly a fish out of water in a country where he doesn’t speak the language (thankfully a whole lot of survivors in France also happen to speak some English), but there are also some clever and creative choices made along the way to give him some connections to the country. This is an interesting situation to drop Daryl into, and it could have gone sideways and been too gimmicky pretty easily, but they mostly manage to pull it off.