At this year’s New York Comic Con, AMC recently held a press-invited conference for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol. The conference featured Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, and director Greg Nicotero, who shared insights into the highly anticipated second season of the series, while teasing season 3, the growth of the characters and behind the scenes secrets.
Norman Reedus reflected on the new season of Daryl Dixon: The Book of Carol, noting that the story and relationships are different this time around and that everything has changed. He highlighted that the series has brought out a wider range of emotions, with characters displaying a depth of emotion, including crying, in ways viewers might not have seen before.
How did y’all prepare for all the action of this season?
“We have a really good stunt coordinator named Sebastian and he also came with us to Spain. It’s a lot of math. I think I clocked a guy in the head with that axe a couple times or like a fishing hook or something, but we rehearse it they sort of do a test and David approves it. We sort of get it down to a science where we try not to hurt each other but the issue with that one was it was super cool, and I was concerned it was going to take too long to rehearse and get that ready on the day. It’s very hard, it did take a lot of time, but it was worth it, but it takes a lot of time to for Norman to learn it, for the stunt guy to rehearse it with him, and then on the day to rehearse it and shoot it. Once you get it, it doesn’t take so once you start shooting, it doesn’t take as much time but getting ready for that takes a lot of time. We have a very enthusiastic stunt team. They’re really happy to be there and they really work really hard.”
Can you talk a little bit about how Carol has changed since season 11?
“I wouldn’t say a whole lot has changed. I think she is just on a new mission, and we are getting to see a little more in her bag of tricks. She’s never been pushed this far as when she lost Sophia as to when her best friend didn’t return. It’s really fun to play and great to explore this this part of Carol.
The two of you individually have started more episodes of The Walking Dead than any of the other actors. Is there anything about the characters that still surprises you or about filming the show that still surprises you?
“I feel like I’m surprised all the time. I look around and we’re in Spain. I look around and I’m just surprised we’re still at it and it’s still interesting. I still enjoy working with him and I hope he still enjoys working with me. The material is fresh and we’re still learning about these characters and they’re still interesting to me. I love Carol and I do love getting to know her better and exploring her emotions, her pragmatism, the things that she’s capable of, not capable of and playing with him. It’s really fun. The thing I like about those two together is the original show was about Rick and then you had all these characters around Rick and Rick’s story, but these two characters always were checking up on each other since day one. ‘You’re all right, you’re right.’ Sophia goes missing she tells me I’m just as good as everybody. We’ve always had this back connection that’s always been very honest”
“So, when you see the two characters on camera now or on TV now, the relationship feels earned like we’ve earned it. There are little moments that only two people who have known each other and been through all that they’ve been through that resonate in a different way than just two characters written that are showing up pretending to know each other, actually really know each other. Even if it’s a serious scene, if it’s a crying scene, if it’s sad or if it’s kind of funny like Carol Bernett, there’s hidden little smirks and things. It’s also interesting because Daryl wasn’t in the graphic novel and that friendship was developed in season 2 by Frank who developed that entire season and the DNA of that relationship. When the premiere episode aired this year, they had a little show afterwards it was the return, and it had them talking about their favorite scenes in the episodes. I watched it like I was like my mouth was on the floor because you forget about how grounded these characters are, the DNA of these two characters and how they became friends. It was so good, the show was so great with building that dynamic. Season 2 really solidified that relationship between the two when Daryl went off to find Sophia. It all started back when these two these actors have really dedicated themselves to keeping that connection fresh and valid and I think that’s why they persevered for some.”
Sticking to that theme, I want to talk a bit about Daryl and Caryl’s relationship and how it moves from season. We’re there any changes?
“They obviously get closer throughout the episodes and he’s kind of becoming softer, he really grows throughout the episode. I knew right from the start I wanted him to play the part. He was so worldly already, he was so different. It’s a kid raised in a nunnery, never been outside the walls, there’s a there’s a curiosity about him that’s still almost innocent in a way. He came in talking about art and music and other things. David tells a story you want to tell. The idea in the first season was it’s the first time where Lon’s character is associated with a father figure that’s not a negative force. So, in season 2, what we see is the development of that and how that’s Daryl’s influence on him is pulling him in a different direction than Isabelle. Even though Isabelle has been a good maternal figure, she’s pulling him in one way and Daryl’s character is pulling him in another way. He’s all about survival and being strong in the world and hers is purer and more idealistic.
In terms of loan’s development under the influence of Daryl’s character, the development of the Walkers when moving to France and having like a whole new different ecological situation for the Walkers was that like a Chicken and the Egg when it came to developing the story; which one came first, the style of the of the Walkers or the story about what happened that caused that look on the Walkers.
“Stories always drives everything that we do in that regard though we were excited because we got to play around with the mythology a little bit. Part of my job is maintaining some sense of continuity between the original show and Darly Dixon but when it came to, ‘Oh well, they’re creating this serum that they’re going to inject into these Walkers and that’s going to turn them into weapons,’ that was exciting. I remember David and I in the original season talking about that and we were like, ‘Oh, they should have tranquilizer darts and they should shoot them in, and that was kind of fun just sort of going with it and having a chance to really play into the scene in the arena with Geral in the end of last season was a lot of fun. All of a sudden, he spent 12 years fighting Walkers and now there’s a new threat and he doesn’t instantly know how to kill them. Greg and I were talking about from the beginning was how to make the Walkers scary because people have lived with Walkers in our world for 12 years or whatever it is, and they’ve learned how to deal with them to some extent. They’re still scary but they’ve learned how to manage them so how could we create Walkers that still abided by the rules of the universe but were scary and which Daryl specifically didn’t know what to do. He’s not a superhero. There were two ways in which we did it; one was the burners which you see right at the beginning of the first episode of the show, he gets burned, he doesn’t know what the hell that is and how that happened and how to manage that and then the other thing was what Greg was talking about, the sort of amped Walkers that are sort of human experiments.
“We have plans and ideas for where we might move but there’s not an ultimate goal which would be determined partially by well by two things, one is the longevity of this particular incarnation of The Walking Dead and the larger plans that go beyond my job description of the universe and how the universe wants to resolve or bring back together different things those are those are parts of the same conversation. Right now, with the shows doing really well we’re making a third season. We’re hoping to make a fourth season and continuing to journey where the road takes us. We have lots of ideas of places to visit for this season.
“We start to see Carol really grips the loss of Sophia. We had talked about her storyline quite a bit and what we would explore as far as her grief and also her survivor’s guilt which is also a very big part of that as well with both Norman in season 1 and then continuing with Norman but then with Melissa in season 2. We talked a lot about their storylines. I would be a fool not to rely on their input because they know the people they’re playing, and they’ve been playing them a long time. We had a lot of conversations to answer.
“Melissa’s storyline in season 2 would be based on some of how she felt about the character where the character had been where the character hadn’t been, the things that hadn’t been addressed. That’s part of the gift that I’m given by being able to do this show is I have these amazing two actors who know their characters very well and know what they’ve done and what they haven’t done and what’s interesting for them to do moving forward so that’s that story came a lot out of our conversations before anything was ever written.”
To learn more about season 2 and season 3 of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol, check out the full interview in the video above.
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