TWD Daryl Dixon director talks Robin Williams’ Mork parallel to Daryl
By Renee Hansen
In an interview with The Wrap, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon director Daniel Percival discusses episode 2 and the meaning behind that Mork & Mindy episode featured in the story. It was a touching scene with a deeper meaning than viewers knew.
Although new to The Walking Dead universe, Percival has been directing since he was 27. He directed four of thesix episodes in season 1 and has proven himself worthy of the franchise, with the first two episodes receiving high praise from critics and viewers.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon episodes directed by Daniel Percival
101: “L’ame Perdue” (The Lost Soul)
102: “Alouette” (Lark)
105: “Deux Amours” (Two Loves)
106: “Coming Home”
In the second episode, “Alouette” (Lark), Daryl (Norman Reedus) and his travel companions, Isabelle (Clémence Poésy), Sylvie (Laika Blanc Francard), and Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi), come upon a community of children at École Maternelle Simone Veil, which was formerly a preschool. The group is led by a teenager, Lou (Kim Higelin), and reminds one of The Lost Boys in the Peter Pan story.
The group’s teacher, Madame DuBois (Evelyne Delmer), had taken ill and was bedridden, requiring Lou to step up and take charge of the children. After vetting Daryl and his group, Lou allowed them to join her and the children for dinner. Afterward, it was time to watch Mork & Mindy on a TV powered by bicycle-generated electricity.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
Percival states that choosing the Mork & Mindy episode for this series was intentional. If you are unaware, Mork & Mindy was a spinoff of Happy Days that aired in the late ’70s/early ’80s and starred the late Robin Williams as an alien from Ork who comes to Earth. It is quite fitting that Mork & Mindy was a spinoff, now featured in a spinoff.
"“It’s a story of a fish out of water and an alien in a strange land. It’s so appropriate.”– Daniel Percival"
Viewers learn that Daryl used to watch the series with his brother Merle (Michael Rooker) and was thrilled to enjoy the episode with the children who knew the episode by heart, quoting along. It was a touching scene that Percival said took some time to prepare for. The child actors spent weeks workshopping the scene to make it feel authentic.
"“You’re landing Daryl in a community that already exists. For that to work on film, that community has to be real. It has to be moving all around them all the time.”-Daniel Percival"
Don’t miss new episodes of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon on AMC and AMC+ on Sundays.
Next. Walking Dead spinoffs a complete list of the upcoming series. dark
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