Melissa McBride and Norman Reedus talk about Carol and Daryl's time to shine

The upcoming season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol is a pivotal season as it features the return of Melissa McBride to TWDU. She will reprise her role as Carol Peletier, best friend of Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus). At the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con IMDBoat event, the actors talked with The Wrap about what's to come for their characters.

In season of the Daryl Dixon series viewers follow Daryl on his unplanned trip to France. He was thrown onto the ship bound for France and when he washed ashore his only thought was to return home. In a flashback, viewers learn that Daryl was able to make a short radio call to Carol at the Commonwealth. He told her he would return in a week and when this didn't happen, Carol began her search for him. The season finale ended with Carol searching in Maine, Daryl's last known location.

The second season, subtitled The Book of Carol, will return to AMC and AMC+ on September 29. It will flesh out Carol's search for Daryl while also featuring more of his journey across the sea. Fans hope it doesn't take too long for the long-awaited reunion of these fan-favorite characters.

In their interview with The Wrap, the actors discuss what fans can expect in the upcoming season.

McBride teased that things will really open up between Daryl and Carol, specifically things she wanted to explore in the main series, but with the size of the cast, they weren't able to do this.

"Without going into too much detail, we’re doing some things that I wanted to do in the original series. Deal with things, deal with the repercussions of loss and things like that. Things that just — unspoken things nobody had conversations about, and how everything that they’ve been through really affects them."

- Melissa McBride

The spinoff will see a significant focus on the long-time friends, which will allow them to shine, and the storyline won't be hindered by other character's stories. This will allow for a deeper dive into who Carol and Daryl are. These two characters are the "last ones standing" as far as season 1 characters who survived the series. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Morgan (Lennie James) survived but were no longer part of the main series.

"I put a lot of work into this character. The idea of having a drone shot go away, and we all wave goodbye, like wouldn’t work for me. David [Zabel, the showrunner of “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon”] had a bunch of great fresh, new ideas."

- Norman Reedus

Just as McBride and Reedus didn't want to rehash the main series stories for the characters, viewers would rather not watch the same series over again. It is exciting for the actors and the fans to see something fresh and new. We can also revisit The Walking Dead episodes that will always hold a speical place in our hearts. But now is the time to reinvent things and step outside the box and create something bigger and better.

Reedus is excited to portray a more mature Daryl, a character who started out as such a hothead.

McBride is excited to see what's next for Carol. She has overcome so much and finally feels good in her own skin.

BE sure to visit The Wrap and read the entire interview.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 1 is streaming on AMC+ and, beginning August 19, will be available on Netflix.