Norman Reedus on Melissa McBride’s Exit From ‘The Walking Dead’ Spinoff (VIDEO)
While The Walking Dead may be ending after the final eight episodes, to air this fall on AMC, the good news is fans have a few spinoffs to look forward to, although one will be a little different from expected.
Less than a week after it was announced that Melissa McBride would not be involved in a spinoff centered around Carol and Daryl, Norman Reedus dropped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and part of the discussion surrounded The Walking Dead. (At the time of her exit, AMC attributed it to the spinoff’s location — it “will be set and filmed in Europe this summer.”) “It’s going to be much different than the show,” Reedus told Fallon of the spinoff.
As for McBride’s exit, “she’s taking time off,” he said, noting, “12 years is a grueling schedule and she wanted to take some time off, so she’s doing that and she deserves it.” He did offer hope for fans who had hoped to see more of Daryl and Carol together after The Walking Dead ends. “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.”
Reedus has wrapped filming The Walking Dead, and when asked about his last day, he recalled, “They handed me the mic and it sort of felt surreal. A friend of mine, Jess, taught me a phrase, ‘Is the juice worth the squeeze?’ and I love that phrase and I kind of said it to the group, ‘The Walking Dead juice has always been worth the squeeze.'”
He pointed out that “it’s a ton” of work to film the post-apocalyptic drama, especially with the last season (a supersized 24 episodes) being “a full year, which was exhausting and you’re in the woods and you’re crying and you’re killing and you’re screaming and fighting… it’s not Succession, where you’re like on a yacht having caviar. We’re eating squirrels and killing each other.” Watch the full interview with Fallon below.
The Walking Dead, Final Episodes, Fall 2022, AMC
