One of the original bad guys of The Walking Dead is officially returning to AMC!
Michael Rooker, who starred as Merle Dixon, Daryl's older brother, in the first and third seasons of The Walking Dead is making his TV return on AMC in a new NASCAR drama series, Thunder Road, according to Deadline.
Rooker will star in the series alongside Dennis Quaid and Outer Banks star Chase Stokes.
Thunder Road sounds a lot like if Yellowstone and the Dutton family were NASCAR royalty. The series follows the Whitlock family, who are trying to hold back the river and continue their reign atop the sport.
Deadline also shared a little bit about the character Rooker will be playing in the series. According to the report, Rooker will play "Lucas, patriarch of the Farley family. Lucas is a tough-minded old buzzard. A lifetime of racing accidents and misadventure may have damaged his body, but it’s left him with the iron will of a man half his age."
I don't know about you, but that sounds like it's right up Rooker's alley. He has a way of playing these kinds of tortured, stubborn characters. We've seen it in The Walking Dead and Rooker's other popular roles. As Deadline noted, this isn't Rooker's first racing project either. He starred alongside Tom Cruise way back in Days of Thunder.
It's been quite a long time since we've seen Rooker in a TV role. The original Walking Dead season 1 villain has been starring in hit movies, like the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and other major Marvel movies, since he left The Walking Dead at the end of season 3.
Merle is definitely one of the most hated characters in the history of The Walking Dead. He's horrible and racist in the first season, and he does more terrible things when we meet back up with him in Woodbury in season 3. He has some great scenes with Daryl (Norman Reedus), and he has some very bad scenes with Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan).
Rooker's character gets a bit of a redemption arc, though. He lets Michonne (Danai Gurira) live and lays his life on the line to ambush the Governor and his men. It's a major blow to the Governor's psyche, and it basically sets up the ending of the third season with the Governor losing his mind and killing everyone who was loyal to him.
It's definitely going to be interesting to see Rooker in a new AMC series given it's been about 13 years since we've seen him on the network.
Thunder Road is expected to premiere on AMC sometime in 2027. We'll share more news about the upcoming series when we find out. There's obviously a chance, with how AMC does business, that we will see some other stars of The Walking Dead in the series.
Add us as a preferred source on Google