The line Norman Reedus didn’t want to say in The Walking Dead finale

The series finale of The Walking Dead satisfied the vast majority of fans. For a beloved show that’s been going on for over a decade, ending on a high note is a huge achievement. It had twists, shocks, and a feel-good ending that not only tied things up, but set up myriad spinoffs.

Perhaps the most memorable line from the finale, which had fans pointing at their TVs Leonardo DiCaprio-style, was when Daryl Dixon said “we ain’t the walking dead.” This line pays homage to, but also contradicts, Rick Grimes’ iconic line from season 5.

When Rick says it, our group is camped out on the road in a thunderstorm, starved for food, and coming to terms with living in a world ruled by the dead. Daryl drops the reprise during the climax of the battle against the Commonwealth, while trying to convince governor Pamela Milton to open the gates to save her own people from being killed by zombies. “We’ve got one enemy,” Daryl says. “We ain’t the walking dead.”

As it turns out, Norman Reedus was ardently against saying this line. “They kind of talked me into saying it,” he told Vanity Fair. “But, if you remember way back when Rick says it, he was like, ‘We are not the walking dead,’ and he made such a big thing of it that I was like, ‘Well, I can’t make a big thing of it now because that’s what Andy did way back then.’”

To differentiate the two lines, Reedus said it in a much more subdued way. “So I kind of just incorporated it into the dialogue, and I didn’t want to shout it from the rooftops, because that’s what he did. So I had to figure out a way to just make it part of the sentence without making it a poster.”

Funnily enough, in the comics, Rick does say this line during the battle against the Commonwealth, and it’s far from subtle. He literally screams it.

First look at Norman Reedus in “epic” Daryl Dixon spinoff!

As The Walking Dead ends, other things begin. There are a lot of spinoff shows on the horizon: Maggie and Negan team up in Dead City, Rick and Michonne will return, and Daryl Dixon heads to France.

Daryl’s show being set in Europe marks a big change for the franchise. “It’s so beautiful, it’s so moving, and it’s the character, but it’s like he got swept away in a tornado and woke up in this foreign land and doesn’t understand anything,” Reedus teased.

"There’s French people speaking French, obviously, and part of the story is being confused with what’s around him, trying to figure out what they’re saying, is this going to be a fight, are we going to get along? It’s so epic in scale and it’s so moving in tone that I’m just over the moon with what we’re getting."

Reedus talked more about the new show with Entertainment Weekly. “The story’s way different. The characters are way different. There’s a different tone, there’s different light, there’s a different sound. It’s a whole different vibe.”

"It’s so epic in scale, and the tone is so good and different, and moody…There’s history in the story. There’s history in the walls around us. There’s history in the sound of it all. It’s a very different feel. It has the stuff that you want from the show, but it’s just picked up and put in a whole other dimension."

Reedus describes the series less as a continuation and more of a “reset,” and given the change of venue and cast, that’s not surprising. The series does not have a title yet… unless they go down the simple route and call it “Daryl Dixon,” which is how it’s currently being advertised.

All 11 seasons of The Walking Dead are streaming on AMC+. And the spinoffs should start airing before too long!

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