Though AMC has been devoid of zombies (French or otherwise) throughout the 2024 TV schedule so far, that will change with the second season of the upcoming Walking Dead series TWD: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol. When the spinoff arrives in September, fans will witness the direct aftermath of the Season 1 finale, which first revealed the impending arrival of Melissa McBride’s fan-favorite survivor Carol. Now we know more about her voyage, thanks to the SDCC trailer, but it also sparked two further questions.
And that’s not even counting the questions that came along with the Season 3 announcement’s location change. But anyone who hasn’t should check out the trailer below so we’re all on the same page when it comes to what we know about Daryl and Carol’s future plights.
Looks like pure mayhem, and that’s exactly what I want and expect out of this show. I’m sure “Daryl learning French one introspective word at a time” is somewhere else on that list, albeit far lower. Now let’s dive into the two questions that I’ll no doubt still be wondering about by the time we see new episodes on AMC or with an AMC+ subscription, which will hopefully address both in some way.
How Are There Not More Airplanes Out There?
Any Walking Dead franchise fan who stuck it out through the CRM era knows that helicopters have pretty much been mastered in this post-apocalyptic universe. Planes, on the other hand, have always appeared to be a distant-past luxury. Yes, the minisode miniseries Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462 actually took place on a plane, but that was at the onset of the outbreak, and didn't branch into the broader spectrum of air travel.
A few other rare instances have popped up, but not to the extremes of what's taking place in the trailer, which features Carol and her new friend Ash (portrayed by The Resident's Manish Dayal) set to cross the whole damn ocean in seemingly one go. Which right there brings up so many mini-questions, not the least of which is how Carol manages to convince this dude that her particular voyage is the one to throw his whole life at.
But if Carol managed to find "a guy" who has a working plane capable of cross-Atlantic boogeying, how many other possible secret fliers are there in the world, and why haven't we seen more evidence of planes still being used? Obviously giant commercial jets would be highly impractical, but private planes of all kinds would be feasibly useful for survivors with know-how.
Practically, I understand that this is more of a budget and safety issue than a franchise storytelling fault, as it would have been jarring to have two-seaters flying above Rick and Team Family in the early seasons of The Walking Dead proper. But still, with Daryl having made that journey by boat in the first season, it's especially bonkers to have this be the point when a new character reveals "plane" to be their secret weapon.
Also, incidentally, I think metro airports would be extremely fascinating and haunting places to explore within a Walking Dead series. Also very impractical, but theoretically very cool.
Will Daryl And Carol's Reunion Actually Make Any Plausible Sense?
Even though the trailer doesn't fully confirm in its final seconds that it's indeed Carol standing behind Norman Reedus' character, that's the most obvious assumption, and I fully get that this series needs to set these two BFFs up for a fairy tale-esque reunion. (Even more so after McBride chose not to take part in the first season as previously planned.) So I know storytelling leaps will be taken, since the odds against these characters finding each other again are fucking astronomical.
To that end, there's a part of my brain that can only accept this plotline if Carol's big trip somehow takes her directly to wherever Daryl is, because she (also somehow) has access on his exact location. I can buy into a lot of other wishy-washy details if I can lean into a plausible sliver of cause and effect somewhere. But that's not going to be the case here.
Instead, Carol and Ash appear to land in the middle of a zombie-filled nowhere, and have to then attempt to pinpoint where Daryl is. And I KNOW it will happen, and I'm fine with it. But I kind of need the show to very specifically have a character say, "Wow, it's gawdamned amazing that we are together again, because if either of us had died in the past few days, the other person would not have known, and this could have ended up being a hectic and inevitably depressing goose chase for one of us."
If not that in full, then I need there to be some French mathematician in the area to come up with whatever the literal odds would be of them finding each other. Like, I go weeks looking for one of my earbuds, or a shirt that ended up hanging in someone else's closet. If I had to go looking for an earbud or a shirt in Paris after the world ended... Well, that wouldn't be worth a TV show.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol will debut on AMC and AMC+ on September 29, with Season 3 taking the characters to Spain in 2025. Norman Reedus seems ready to stick with the character for as long as things stay fresh, so who knows where Daryl will go in Season 4.
