Fan Fest News

News for Fans, By Fans!

Norman Reedus on Rick and Daryl’s Big Scene

Fans of The Walking Dead have undoubtedly spent most of this season with their hearts in their throats. It’s been action packed, busy, and for some characters – it’s seemed to be a tether between this world and the next.

Daryl Dixon is one of those characters who knows what it’s like to feel like they don’t have a steady sense of themselves. From watching his friends die to being jerked around last season by Negan, he’s known pain and felt guilt that surpasses a level most would survive.

So when he found himself back with the group, he came back a changed man. This time around, Daryl isn’t playing games or taking chances, and his new attitude caused a big problem between himself and Rick on this week’s episode.

When asked about his reaction to finding out about the big fight scene, he said he anticipated that Andrew would do some rewrites that made Rick’s part of the battle more favorable.

My first thought was that Andy’s going to try to do some rewrites, throw in 12 karate kicks to my throat — you know, stuff like that. But yeah, they’re always fun. I mean, Andy and I both are big believers in trying to do all of our own stunts, so, you know, the Advil was flowing for days.

He went on to say that both he and Andrew really enjoyed filming that scene. Taking Advil for days after due to pain wasn’t as enjoyable, but they wanted to do their own stunts.

We did all the stunts on that, he and I. They were fun. There’s a bit of rolling around and stuff that was added sort of last minute, us rolling back and forth. I think a lot of it didn’t make the cut because we both looked like we were kind of doing gymnastics on the floor. Andy got a little sucker punch into the jaw there, which he’ll never admit, but I’m saying it. He did it, but that happens.

The show’s really physical sometimes, and to be honest, we both like doing the physical stuff. So it’s great. Whenever Andy and I work together, it’s a lot of fun, so I knew it would be fun, but there’s a lot of choreography and explosions, and, we had to be very careful about doing certain things. It was a lot of time to beat the crap out of him. It was awesome.

Many fans at home thought it was awesome too, not because two favorite characters were battling it out, but because they wanted to make it as real as possible. They wanted to bring as much of themselves as they could into the moments, some of the most difficult between Rick and Daryl since the earliest seasons.

Norman was then asked who was right when it came to the disagreement between himself and Rick about the dynamite. In his opinion, it’s not a black and white type of situation.

I think we’re both kind of right. Rick’s taking the stance that there are people to save, and Daryl’s sort of gone rogue. You know, you can see from the episode beforehand, he’s just going to put down anyone because they’re in his way, and there’s a certain game that we’re trying to get to the end of, and he’s not being the sensitive, diplomatic one. He’s really just trying to end it now as fast as possible.

The dynamite would’ve been a good thing to use, and of course, in very Laurel and Hardy fashion, we both mess it up. So I thought it was kind of funny. I love in that episode there’s that one scene after the fact, and we’re both kind of talking to each other, barely, but not looking at each other, and I love that scene. That’s one of my favorites.

There isn’t a world, be it this one or one where the undead walk among the living, where relationships exist without conflict. The fact that Norman and Andrew are so willing to show that between their characters only enhances our experience as viewers and theirs as a cast.

However, the brawl didn’t keep them apart and it won’t continue to. The bond formed between them is brotherly and we all know that sometimes we show the worst of ourselves to those we love most.

Like brothers do, you kind of beat the crap out of each other, and then you’re like, “So what are we doing tonight?” So we have that relationship. We’re both still pissed at each other, but how far are you going to take it? So, that scene, I really liked it. It was very simple. It’s very straight to the point, and there was humor to it, too. I remember shooting that. We were both cracking up afterwards because the more real you play that and the more hurt you are, the more the comedy comes out in some weird way. So that was one of my favorite scenes.

You can check out the rest of Norman’s interview here, and see what happens next for ‘rogue’ Daryl as Season 8 progresses.