AMC's zombie universe continues to survive through several upcoming Walking Dead TV shows, right around two years after the flagship series ended. With the fan-favorite spinoff TWD: Daryl Dixon, Norman Reedus is set to once again reprise his role as the titular hunter for its second season. While it’s hard for fans to tell how long the show could go on for, Reedus is actually prepared to continue playing Daryl for quite a long time, and I am pleasantly surprised.
Playing the same character for a lengthy amount of time can get tiring, which can play into stars exiting hit shows to take on less time-intensive projects. That doesn't appear to be the case with Reedus at this point, however. While I'd expected Reedus to move on to other projects pre-Daryl Dixon, and wouldn't have been shocked for him to end up as one of The Walking Dead's most heartbreaking deaths, his French excursion has added new life to this franchise, and so long as the "new" side of things is maintained, he has no plans to step away from a role he's been playing since 2010. He told Mr Feelgood this when asked to put a number to it:
I think maybe six or seven more years. The Daryl Dixon spin-off has given me an opportunity to take the show in a direction that’s different to the original show. I didn’t want to make the same show again in a different location. I wanted to reinvent it. And they let me, with the other like-minded people involved, invent something new. So, it feels fresh to me. It’s in a different language. It’s shot a different way. It’s not really about zombies, and who’s going to get bit this week, it’s completely different. So, as long as I keep reinventing it, it’s fun.
It’s great that Reedus wants to keep playing Daryl for what could be a total of two decades, and it makes sense that he’d want to do something different each time, if possible. With The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon more so focusing on Daryl being in France and why as he tries to get back home, it’s in a different territory than the original series and it’s already been exciting to watch.
That being said, how many more separate storylines they will be able to come up with is a different obstacle. It seems like the Walking Dead universe has no trouble cranking out new shows beyond the original series, but there’s only so much you can tell without forcing it. It also helps that the Daryl Dixon cast is mostly fresh faces. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon did just premiere last year, with the second season airing this fall on the 2024 TV schedule, and it’s always possible that the show could last a while so you never know what could happen.
At the very least, Norman Reedus has been able to take on other roles while filming TWD and Daryl Dixon, including 2023’s The Bikeriders and the upcoming John Wick spinoff film, John Wick Presents: Ballerina, not to mention his travel series, Ride with Norman Reedus. So he's definitely staying busy and keeping things fresh outside of the post-apocalypse, so hopefully that'll help him keep things outside the box to stick with Daryl for as many more years as he can handle it. Pending new and exciting storylines, naturally.
Even though Reedus has had a mindset of playing Daryl Dixon for a long time for years, even he's said several times in his career that one never knows what can happen in the future. Hopefully, he does continue playing Daryl for as long as he can or at least until it seems like Daryl’s story has properly wrapped. For now, fans will be able to continue watching the series when The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 premieres on AMC on September 29.
