Norman Reedus teases “very surreal” final season of The Walking Dead

The eleventh and final season of The Walking Dead is almost here, and it’s going to be bigger than anything we’ve seen before. Between the introduction of the huge, multi-community network known as the Commonwealth and the terrifying Reapers, things are about to get crazy. But don’t take it from me, star Norman Reedus (Daryl) has revealed that the show gets “a whole new attitude”

Daryl Dixon is one of only a handful of characters on The Walking Dead who has been around since the first season. That’s a pretty big feat, especially considering how happy the show is to kill off fan favorites. Over the last decade, Daryl has been put through the wringer as much (probably more) than anyone. But despite what you might be thinking, he still hasn’t seen everything.

Speaking to TV Line, Reedus explained how season 11 is different. “It’s very surreal,” he said. “Every season feels like a different show in a certain sense, but this season, it’s a whole new backdrop, a whole new color palette, a whole new attitude.”

"It’s sort of in Technicolor all of a sudden, and it takes some getting used to, which you can see in our group [of survivors] — we’re having trouble getting used to it, too. It’s like Alice fell down the rabbit hole, and she doesn’t know where she’s at. We just stepped into a Salvador Dalí painting, so we’re like, ‘Whaaat?’"

We already know about the Commonwealth from Robert Kirkman’s comic book. This community is a superpower in this post-apocalyptic world. Our survivors have not encountered anything quite like it yet. It’s an extremely advanced society. Not only does it have the bare essentials (strong walls and food), but they even have shops and sporting events. For our group, something like this would seem otherworldly. Though as we know from the comics, all is not what it seems.

Meanwhile, the Reapers are original to the show. We don’t know anything about them, other than that they attacked Maggie’s community. We encountered one in the season 10 episode “Home Sweet Home,” and he appeared to be a formidable fighter. We’ll have to wait and see what they have in store…I imagine there’s a lot of death involved.

How will The Walking Dead season 11 be different? 

Other than the tonal shift, there’s a big behind-the-scenes change this season, and it’s all to do with the cameras themselves. Since the first season, The Walking Dead has been shot on 16mm film, which gives it a grainy classic horror feel. However, in the wake of the pandemic, the production shifted to digital for the six additional episodes of season 10 episodes. Now, season 11 will be the first full season to be filmed in digital, making it look more contemporary.

Whether this change is better or not comes down to personal preference, but I always felt like 16mm film was one of the show’s signatures.

How did Norman Reedus learn that The Walking Dead was ending?

Speaking to Insider, Reedus also talked about his reaction when he learned that the show was coming to an end. “I was sitting in the backyard under an orange tree sitting in the dirt with my daughter, peeling an orange and got the call,” Reedus recalled. “I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, this is happening. And that’s happening. And this is happening.’ And I was like, ‘What did everybody else say?’ They said, ‘We haven’t called anybody else yet.”

"I was more thinking like, ‘How does it end? Do we all die in slow motion? Do we find a cure? Do they just nuke us from space? Like what happens?’"

Naturally, Reedus was sworn to secrecy, and naturally, he immediately broke his oath. “I think I immediately called Melissa [McBride].”

McBride, who plays Carol, is another actor who has been around since the beginning, and she was floored. “I had a blackout,” she said. “I completely blacked out. I was outside sitting on the deck and I heard and I think I was just stunned. Stunned.”

The Walking Dead returns for its super-sized 24-episode final season on August 22 on AMC. For AMC+ subscribers, the premiere airs earlier on August 15!

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