‘Daryl Dixon’ is The Walking Dead Universe as we’ve never seen it before!

Between Negan and Maggie traveling to Manhattan and Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) washing up in France, 2023 will forever be known as the year The Walking Dead universe went on tour. After the success of Dead City earlier this year, the bar was set extremely high for Daryl Dixon. Does it deliver? Read our SPOILER-FREE review!

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon follows — you guessed it — Daryl Dixon as he goes out “looking for something” and finds himself washed up on the shores of France. It’s a whole new culture with new threats, including some crazy new variant walkers. As he traverses the desolate landscapes searching for a means to get back across the ocean to the U.S., he gets wrapped up in a plot.

Daryl ends up in an abbey where he meets Isabelle (Clémence Poésy), the leader of a small community called the Union of Hope, a group of nuns who’ve seemingly been expecting his arrival. We learn that the nuns have been nurturing a young boy, Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi), whom they believe to be the messiah; the boy will bring peace and hope back to a world ruled by the dead. Is he really that important? Well, regardless of what Daryl thinks, it becomes his mission to escort the boy to a community called The Nest.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is absolutely beautiful! 

The sets are nothing short of spectacular, a far stretch from the samey and monotonous countryside of Georgia we all grew used on The Walking Dead. From its majestic castles to the eerily quiet Parisian streets (where a broken Eiffel Tower creaks in the wind) and the smartly converted nightclub in the catacombs, it’s a feast for the eyes! The setting feels like a character in itself.

And with a whole new location, we also come across new walker variants. There’s the regular iconic decrepit ones we’re all familiar with. However, there are new ones like the burners, which leave an acidic rash on anyone they touch.

These new variations of walkers are a nice addition to the show. There was always a fear that new walkers could come across as a cheap gimmick, but these ones feel like they belong.

Character dynamics

Daryl is one of the most grouchy, lone-wolf characters in the entire Walking Dead canon. He tends to work alone and trusts only a few people, although he is fiercely loyal to those few. So putting him in an unfamiliar environment was always going to be a challenge for the character. There are two characters that he interacts with more than any others: Laurent and Isabelle.

Daryl and Laurent’s relationship has similarities to Joel and Ellie’s from The Last of Us, but they don’t get enough screentime together to really bloom. There are, however, a few poignant moments between them, particularly in the latter half of the show.

I was much more taken by Daryl’s chemistry with Isabelle. The two have troublesome pasts, and at first they are quite hostile and secretive. But once the tension settles, their companionship was one of my favorites parts of the show. Daryl confides in her in ways I found rather unexpected. Their conversations were some of the most poignant  in the show. Sometimes we learn more about his character than we ever did in 11 seasons of the mothership show. This reaffirms what the title suggests: this is Daryl’s show, it’s his story.

Speaking of Isabelle, she has a really great backstory. The show brings us back to outbreak day where she struggles to survive in a collapsing France. As a steadfast lover of outbreak stories, this was wonderful to watch!

I also liked Quinn (Adam Nagaitis), who puts in a particularly stellar performance. The owner of Demimonde, the nightclub in the catacombs, Quinn is a cheeky, smarmy Brit; the antithesis of Daryl.

Verdict

Similar to Dead City, Daryl Dixon has the feel of a prelude to a much larger story arc. If you wanted a complete, well-rounded story, this isn’t it, at least not in the six-episode debut season. But we knew that already since Daryl Dixon is officially returning for another season!

The story is gripping, with a perfect blend of grittiness and brutality, but also an enormous sense of hope. The pacing is steady. Every episode has its fair share of action scenes as well as slower, more emotional beats. That said, I would’ve liked some other characters to get more attention, especially Genet (Anne Charrier).

Norman Reedus shines as the leading man, bringing a high level of nuance to the character, more than we’ve seen before. The show is a great character study that also expands the Walking Dead universe in ways we’ve never seen before.

You can clearly tell that AMC is putting everything into these spinoffs. They’re shining brightly after the end of the original show’s 11-season run. There’s lots of life left in the franchise. This is another must-watch for all fans of The Walking Dead!

Series Grade: 8/10

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