For years, “If Daryl dies, we riot,” was a popular mantra among “The Walking Dead” fans. Welp, it’s finally time to simmer down, people. Your crossbow boy is safe.
The announcement that both Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) will continue on in a “Walking Dead” spinoff in 2023 suggests the fan-favorite pair appear to be safe through the conclusion of the main series. With 30 episodes of “The Walking Dead” left through 2022, that seems like a pretty big spoiler, which Scott Gimple, chief content officer of “The Walking Dead” Universe, recently confirmed to Decider.
“Uh, yes.” Gimple said when asked if he was concerned about dropping the news early, adding that he doesn’t like spoilers and tries to keep the story on screen “as much as possible.” Still, Gimple explained to Decider that announcing the end of “The Walking Dead” was a “bummer,” and he wanted to be honest about the story continuing in the Daryl and Carol spinoff, as well as in a new series called “Tales of The Walking Dead”:
By saying this Daryl and Carol show is continuing, in some ways, you’re saying, ‘It isn’t the complete end of all things “Walking Dead.”’ In some ways, people think that if we hadn’t told them that, that was withholding. Or something like that. And then with Tales, there very well may be an angle of seeing a lot of these current Walking Dead characters — I’m talking about the classic ‘Walking Dead’ show — on that show. Telling deep dive stories about them in ways that are continuing on with the story. It was nice to have some good news in there too. And it was nice to be honest and transparent. But who knows? Maybe they’re both walkers in this show.
Throughout his run on “The Walking Dead,” initially taking over as showrunner in Season 4, Gimple has been particularly averse to spoilers. When HuffPost chatted with Gimple in 2017 following the reveal of Carl’s death, a go-to answer for the then-showrunner was that he “really can’t get into that.”
Apparently, the Daryl and Carol news was something Gimple just couldn’t avoid. Though he teases that the pair could be zombies in the new show, it’s doubtful he’d want to start a spinoff with fans reaching again for their riot gear.