TV Shows

The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus on Possible Daryl Dixon and Rick Grimes Reunion

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes and Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon – The Walking Dead _ Season 5, Gallery – Photo Credit: Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC

When The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol reunited Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride, it had been two years since we last saw them together. It’s been nearly seven years since Reedus’ Daryl and Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes were separated back in season 9 of The Walking Dead, and still no brotherly reunion. (The show’s former lead went on to reunite with Danai Gurira’s Michonne in their own spinoff series, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, in 2024.)

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But with Daryl Dixon winding down — AMC announced at San Diego Comic-Con that the show’s upcoming fourth season will be its last, likely airing in 2026 — fans are wondering whether the two characters will meet again for the first time since 2018.

“We’re very aware of it,” Reedus told IGN when asked about fan theories that the series could end with a reunion. “There’s so many ideas thrown around from fans for all these things. I think sometimes it’s better to do the opposite of what people expect so they’re surprised.”

“If we just read what fans wanted all the time and gave them what they wanted, then you would know the outcome of everything. So sometimes I think it’s better to tell your story,” he continued. “People can like it, argue, hate it, whatever, but you don’t want to just read Twitter, you know what I’m saying?”

For his part, Lincoln hasn’t ruled out reprising the role after The Ones Who Live. The six-episode limited series ended with the reunited Rick and Michonne making their way home to their children, bringing Rick’s story to an end — at least for now.

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes and Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon – The Walking Dead _ Season 5, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

“Never say never,” Lincoln previously told EW about potentially returning to The Walking Dead Universe. “There are other very important characters in the universe that are still wandering around and alive that I think it might be quite exciting to have them breathe the same air and see how long they survive together. But it’s a difficult one. It would have to be like [The Ones Who Live], a really exciting story.”

And Scott M. Gimple, former Walking Dead showrunner and current chief content officer of AMC’s TV universe, has hinted at plans to bring together the series that splintered out of The Walking Dead when the original series ended after 11 seasons in 2022.

“The cool thing about all these [shows] is … you don’t have to see any of these [shows] to watch any of these [shows],” Gimple told ComicBook of the interconnected universe that includes the ongoing Daryl Dixon and the just-renewed The Walking Dead: Dead City. “But if you are watching them all, you get little rewards that you might not have noticed, and I want to keep doing that.”

Gimple went on to tease that The Ones Who Live “does potentially flow into other stories – and certainly, my overall hopes and dreams are to pull everything together at some point. Whether temporarily, or on more of a long-term basis.” Whether that means an Avengers: Endgame-style crossover to wrap things up or a Walking Dead revival remains to be seen.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 premieres Sept. 7 on AMC and AMC+.