Norman Reedus is filling in “The Walking Dead” fans on the status of the upcoming Daryl centric spinoff after Melissa McBride’s exit from the series.
During an appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon“, the 53-year-old actor opened up about McBride’s decision to depart from the spin-off saying that if anyone deserved a break, fans need to look no further than to Melissa.
“I know it’s going to be much different than the show, you know it was originally Carol and I — Melissa McBride and I — and she’s taking time off,” Reedus explained. “You know 12 years is a grueling schedule, and she wanted to take some time off so she’s doing that and she deserves it.”
Although McBride has decommitted from the series, Reedus is positive that TWD fans haven’t seen the last of Carol and Daryl.
He noted, “I imagine those characters are going to meet back up at some point and I might even meet up with some other characters down the road. She’s taking time off and in the meantime they’re like ‘Hey, do you want to go on a mission? And I’m like ‘Yeah!'”
When news first broke of McBride’s exit fans went wild, with some blaming Reedus for the change. It got so bad AMC and the TWD franchise issued a statement defending Reedus via Twitter.
“We would like to acknowledge the response to this week’s news related to the previously announced Daryl and Carol TWD spinoff,” the statement read. “Norman Reedus is being unfairly targeted and attacked in social media for a decision he had no part in. Melissa McBride decided she could not participate in the series because relocating to Europe became logistically untenable for her. It is inappropriate to direct negativity and anger at another cast member for a disappointing outcome he had nothing to do with.”
After 12 years, 11 seasons, countless heartbreaking deaths and thousands of zombies getting headshots, the original “The Walking Dead” will air its final episode later this year.
On the final day of filming its last season, executive producer Greg Nicotero confirmed the news by sharing a video with Reedus to his Instagram page.
“We’re doing a last day video, here we are, 12 years,” said Nicotero, as Reedus added, “Last day, love you buddy, thank you for everything. It’s been a real joy, you know what I mean?”
“Remember when we were babies and we started this show? And you had short hair?” asked the EP, before Reedus revealed just how trippy the final day on set had been. “My entire brain is short circuiting right now,” he said, “I can’t really wrap my head around this.”
As Nicotero said, “It’s hard, but 12 hours from now the world’s gonna be a different place,” Reedus then joked, “Yeah, I’ll be on the bathroom floor with a martini and tears.”
Despite the conclusion of the original show, fans won’t be saying goodbye to the TWD universe quite yet. In addition to Reedus’ spinoff series, “Fear the Walking Dead” has already been renewed for Season 8. AMC is also working on an anthology series, “Tales of the Walking Dead” and another spinoff, “Isle of the Dead,” featuring Maggie and Negan (Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan). And we can’t forget Andrew Lincoln’s movies.
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