The Walking Dead showrunner addresses criticism of Carol/Daryl spinoff

While The Walking Dead may be coming to an end, the franchise is about to get even bigger, with multiple spin-off shows planned. Perhaps the most intriguing is a series about Daryl and Carol, characters who have both become fan favorites over the years. However, the announcement that the show is in production hasn’t been without controversy.

Speaking with Digital Spy, showrunner Angela Kang has addressed complaints from some Walking Dead fans that the show being public knowledge has killed any tension surrounding the fate of Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) in the show’s final season. Many believe that the new show being announced confirms that these two survive beyond the series finale. “The interesting thing is, we knew that Daryl/Carol was coming,” said Kang. “The decisions for that, plus the show ending – they didn’t happen simultaneously, but they happen to kind of mirror each other.”

Kang says that production was well underway for season 11 when the cast and crew learned that the show was being canceled; the Daryl and Carol idea was already in the works before then. “So we were already working on the writing for this season a bit by the time we knew that this was going to be the last season. But then the episode order got extended. It was something that had been talked about well before I even came on board to write it. The idea is a germinating idea that’s been around for a while.”

What sort of Walking Dead show will Carol and Daryl have?

Talking about what viewers can expect from the new show, Kang said it will telling new and high-quality tales within The Walking Dead universe. “First and foremost, we want to try to tell a great Walking Dead story. We’ve got many characters that are part of this incredible group of survivors. Daryl and Carol are incredibly important to it, and I think they are both really good at being in their own stories, as sort of the leaders of their own thing. They’re both lone wolves in a lot of ways.”

"But I think what is really touching about Daryl and Carol is that they are so important to each other. They do lean on each other in a really special way. And so we’re always going to use that. They are kind of touchstones for each other in a way that I think is very special. So that’s going to be something that carries out over the course of the story. And then, at some point, we will hand them off into another story."

The Walking Dead season 11 is airing right now, with new episodes coming on Sundays on AMC.

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