Norman Reedus Further Hints at Melissa McBride’s Return to Walking Dead Spinoff

Norman Reedus has added major fuel to the fire when it comes to Melissa McBride's potential involvement in a Walking Dead spinoff series. Find out what he said about Carol and Daryl reuniting.

By Daniel Trainor Sep 23, 2022 8:12 PMTags
Watch: Norman Reedus Breaks Down His "Crocodile Dundee" Knives!

Carol and Daryl will (probably) ride again.

After Melissa McBride dropped out of a planned Walking Dead spinoff starring her character Carol and Norman Reedus' Daryl in April, citing the production's move overseas, fans of the zombie horror franchise were left disappointed.

However, Reedus, who is still reprising his character in the spinoff, says there's still plenty of reason for optimism that McBride will appear—even if it is further down the road than fans hoped.

"You don't know she's not going to show up on the spinoff," he told Variety Sept. 23. "I'll just leave it at that. She's a very big part of Daryl's story. It's all gonna be OK."

Well that's quite a shift! But Reedus gave a pretty straightforward explanation.

"The spinoff was announced before we even announced The Walking Dead was ending," he said. "We always thought we were doing a show that would come back to the flagship show—we'd take off, then come back to the flagship show."

Reedus further detailed that once it was announced that The Walking Dead would end after season 11, they "shot for a year and a half straight, through the beginning of COVID" and McBride simply needed some time off.

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Reedus expressed similar sentiments about his and McBride's characters earlier this month when asked about the spinoff.

"Their journey's not over," Reedus told Entertainment Weekly Sept. 6. "They will meet down the road. You can pretty much bet all your money. I read all these people whining about it, and I have to just keep my mouth shut, but there will be a lot of foots in a lot of mouths at some point."

He hasn't exactly learned that lesson about keeping his mouth shut—not that we're complaining!

Jace Downs/AMC

Lest you think Reedus might just be stringing us along, McBride herself confirmed that we can probably expect more Carol down the line, as well.

"I feel like Carol has more story to tell," she told EW Sept. 6. "I'll leave it at that. I think she's got some more story."

Consider us convinced.

The second part of The Walking Dead's 11th and final season premieres Oct. 2 on AMC.

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