The Walking Dead: Daryl gets new weapons in season 9

With bullets in short supply on The Walking Dead the group has to find alternate means of defense, so Daryl Dixon will sport some new hardware in season 9.

The time jump in season 9 of The Walking Dead gives us a look at what the communities are like after having some time to recover from All Out War and move forward. We’ve seen crops and new buildings, and wagons and horses. The gas is gone, so that means cars are scarce. Weaponry has changed as a result of the time jump as bullets become scarce, too. Survivors need new methods of defense, and Daryl Dixon has a new set of knives that are perfect for offense, and defense.

With his crossbow at the ready, Daryl has never needed to rely on guns. So long as he was able to retrieve the arrows, Daryl had an efficient weapon that didn’t make a lot of noise that was perfect for killing walkers. In season 9 he adds a set of knives to the mix, and their finger loops make them perfect for attacking from different directions.

Showrunner Angela Kang talked about Daryl’s new weapons, noting that Norman Reedus had a hand in designing them:

"Since our characters are being more stingy with their bullets this year, we wanted to make sure Daryl had a good secondary weapon for hand-to-hand fighting (a crossbow is difficult to reload, so it’s not good for quick combat). Norman helped to custom design a pair of knives that he can use for two-handed combat. They’re saw-backed Bowie knives with finger rings that allow you to quickly twirl the knives into different positions (you can grip them in either direction)."

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm4c1jNgse6/?taken-by=bigbaldhead

The new knives, seen in an Instagram post from Norman Reedus himself, look like they’ll be useful when fighting in close quarters with an opponent. Daryl’s fighting style is very instinctive, so being able to both lash out in a forward motion as well as being able to swing backwards will be helpful.

If the promotional pictures from season 9 are any indication, Daryl still has his crossbow and the knives are just an addition to his one-man arsenal.

It’s possible that Daryl either found these knives or he took them from someone. We’ll have to wait and see if the show offers any explanation about where they came from.

You can see Daryl’s new knives in action when The Walking Dead returns on October 7 on AMC.