Will Daryl Dixon be the last man standing? Norman Reedus hopes so
By Ryan Stuver
Once prophesied in Season 4 by Beth Greene (Emily Kinney), Daryl Dixon may be the last man standing when The Walking Dead comes to an end.
No character is ever safe on AMC’s The Walking Dead. The T.V. show has proven that more so than even Robert Kirkman’s graphic novels. In The Walking Dead, the character’s lives are always in peril, and we’ve lost and will continue to lose plenty of the cast.
This long list of departed that includes Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs), who is still very much alive in the comics, will also add the show’s main character from the very beginning in Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) in Season 9. While we don’t know if the producers will kill off Rick completely, it’s confirmed that the character is being written off of the show.
That leaves only a few originals from Season One, one in which has been a fan favorite from the beginning in Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus). The crossbow-wielding, motorcycle-riding, walker-slaying expert–not to mention Rick Grimes BFF–may prove Beth’s bold prediction correct as the last man standing.
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Unlike Carl (who the showrunners chose to kill) or Rick (whose actor decided to step away), Reedus told CBR that he plans to see the show through to the end.
"“I put so much effort into this. For me to walk away now would just seem so cowardly. It’s a fight every day, in a million different ways. But it’s a fight that I’ve been invested in. My family’s here, I like my life here. I like riding my motorcycle through the country to work. I’ve been in New York a long, long time, and now every time I go back to New York I just wanna go back to Georgia.”"
Reedus has really embraced his character of Daryl Dixon and so have the fans.
Keeping Daryl alive would be a wise decision, as there aren’t a lot of fan favorites, especially from the beginning (Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride, who plays Carol, are the only ones left). The character has also been one of the few mainstays that didn’t come from the comics, and so it’s always been fun to see what the show’s writers came up with for Daryl.
Replacing Rick Grimes may be impossible, but plenty of the cast will have to step up due to the permanent absence of the shows biggest star. Just because Lincoln is leaving the show, doesn’t mean Reedus will step in to completely fill those shoes, the actor confirmed to TV Line.
"“Rick is the quarterback of this football team, he’s always been, he always will be,” Reedus said, “The story will evolve in ways where characters will rise and fall with what they have to do and how that works. It’s a very female-driven season, which is great. We’ve had a couple seasons of some chest-bumping going on, and girls don’t chest bump. This is a different vibe. It has the sensitivity and the grace but the ferociousness of a brand new show.”"
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Makes enough sense to me. Daryl’s always been kind of a loner and a wildcard. He never desired to be a leader, which is probably good for him because most leaders don’t make it that long on this show.
While AMC producers revealed they plan to keep the successful series going for another decade, Reedus really will be in The Walking Dead for the long haul.