Norman Reedus Says 15 Years on 'The Walking Dead' Feels Like a "Social Experiment"

The Big Picture

Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride discuss playing their iconic characters for 15 years in
The Walking Dead
franchise.
The duo star in
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol
, reuniting in the second season.
Season 2 airs on September 29, 2024, with both Reedus and McBride signed on to return for a third season.

Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride have discussed how they feel about playing their iconic characters for nearly 15 years over different iterations of the The Walking Dead franchise. Speaking with Collider’s Steven Weintraub in the Collider Media Studio at the San Diego Comic Con, the pair exchanged feelings and experiences towards the longevity of their characters Daryl Dixon (Reedus) and Carol Peletier (McBride). The duo will star together in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol, where McBride will reprise her role in the second season of the popular spin-off show. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is the sixth spin-off venture from the The Walking Dead universe, following previous programs Fear the Walking Dead, Tales of the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, The Walking Dead: Dead City, and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Season 2 is slated to air on September 29, 2024, and will see Dixon and Peletier finally reunite on the small screen.

At SDCC, it was also announced that The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon will be returning for a third season, starring Reedus and McBride. As well as starring in the hit spin-off, Reedus and McBride are executive producers on the show, and were joined by executive producer and showrunner David Zabel, Season One co-star Louis Puech, The Walking Dead franchise’s chief content officer and fellow executive producer Scott M. Gimple, and executive producer and director Greg Nicotero. The upcoming season is expected to begin filming this August in Madrid, Spain, and both Reedus and McBride are signed on to return.

How Do Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride Feel About ‘Inhabiting’ Their Roles?

Collider spoke to Reedus and McBride about the longevity of their iconic characters, asking, ‘You guys first signed on in 2010, it’s a miracle to get a TV show on the air. It’s a miracle that TV show gets two seasons and then it’s like almost an anomaly to be able to play a role for a few years, let alone for this amount of time. So, for both of you, what is it like actually inhabiting roles like this over such a period of time?’. In response, Reedus discussed the parallel nature of himself aging alongside his character (Dixon), saying, ‘It’s like a weird social experiment because you kind of age in real time on camera in front of people. As your character changes, your life changes, people die, people have babies, life goes on around you while it’s happening. So, it’s like a weird social experiment.’

McBride seconded Reedus’ experience, explaining her own experiences with playing her character for such a period of time. McBride agreed, saying, ‘Yeah. You meet people and they’re like, I know who you are. You’re that lady on The Walking Dead. No, I’m not,’ interjected by a ‘Bitch, please,’ from Reedus. McBride continued, ‘Stop, get away from me. [Laughs] No. Like the guy that we met a few minutes ago. He was in ninth grade when he started watching the show. It is amazing and it’s a little surreal to think we’re still doing this.’

Season 2 of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, starring Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride is slated to air on September 29, 2024. You can catch up on Season 1, which is now streaming on AMC+, and stay tuned to Collider for more on the show’s second and third seasons.