Daryl Dixon release date, cast, plot and everything you need to know

*squints, straddles hog*

By Iona Rowan

22 Nov 2022

The Walking Dead may have come to an end, but there are still plenty of spinoffs to help fill that zombie-shaped hole in your heart.

One of which is the upcoming Daryl Dixon spinoff, aptly named after the crossbow-wielding character played by Norman Reedus.

Daryl will be crossing the Atlantic for a European excursion and we're here to tell you everything you need to know about it.

Daryl Dixon potential release date: When is it out?

norman reedus as daryl dixon, the walking dead, season 9, episode 3 'warning signs'

Gene Page/AMC

In October 2022, Reedus confirmed on Instagram that he was on set in the French capital, so we know filming is under way.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by norman reedus (@bigbaldhead)

Considering production has only just begun, the absolute earliest we'd expect to see Daryl Dixon is at the end of 2023, though 2024 is looking more realistic.

Keep us bookmarked and we'll update you when we know more.

Daryl Dixon cast: Who's in it?

It wouldn't be a Daryl Dixon spinoff without, well, Daryl Dixon. So we can 100% confirm Norman Reedus as our leading man.

He'll be joined by The Essex Serpent's Clémence Poésy and Chernobyl actor Adam Nagaitis.

As reported by Deadline, Poésy will star as Isabelle, who's described as a "member of a progressive religious group who joins forces with Daryl on a journey across France and finds herself confronting her dark past in Paris."

Nagaitis will play Quinn, a "displaced Brit who has become powerful in post-apocalyptic Paris as a black marketeer and the owner of an underground nightclub."

Getty Images

The series was originally due to star Daryl alongside Melissa McBride’s Carol Peletier, but the actress exited the show in April because relocating to Europe became "logistically untenable" for her.

In an interview with EW, though, Reedus confirmed that Daryl and Carol's story isn't over yet, so it's more than likely we'll see her again in the future.

"Their journey's not over. They will meet down the road," he said. "You can pretty much bet all your money. I read all these people whining about it, and I have to just keep my mouth shut, but there will be a lot of foots in a lot of mouths at some point."

Daryl Dixon plot: What is it about?

Set after the series finale of The Walking Dead, Daryl Dixon finds the titular character transported across the Atlantic to France in a whole new level of a world gone mad.

The actor took to Twitter last month to share the official Daryl Dixon poster, where the Eiffel Tower can be seen in all its post-apocalyptic glory.

pic.twitter.com/orp5iNQBgn
— norman reedus (@wwwbigbaldhead) October 3, 2022

There's little known about the plot, though the setting in France indicates it will tie into The Walking Dead: World Beyond.

In the post-credits scene of World Beyond's series finale, we see a woman in a deserted lab in France as she stumbles across a video of Dr Edwin Jenner, the scientist who told Rick Grimes in the very first season finale of The Walking Dead that everyone was already infected and they'll turn upon their death.

He added that he was aware of French researchers working on a cure, seemingly confirming that France would be the nation to prevent the end of the world.

But it turns out the scientists had also been working on "variant cohorts" which, as we're shown, make the virus a lot worse. When the woman is interrupted by an armed guard and is killed, she regenerates into a super-fast, super-strong zombie.

the walking dead, season 10, episode 5 daryl

Jace DownsAMC

As Daryl is headed to France, then, it looks like he'll be in for a terror-induced ride.

"It’s crazy what we're gonna do," Reedus shared at New York Comic Con earlier this year. "I think France is gonna have a f**king heart attack, which is good, which is what I want. It has a different look and a different feel, a different sound to it.

"It has all the things that you like about the show, but new people experiencing them and in a different kind of way."