5 reasons fans loved the premiere of Daryl Dixon season 3

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon returned this weekend for its third (and penultimate) season, kicking off with a bang, as the first episode garnered lots of positive feedback from fans. Getting fans of Daryl and Carol—who have both been in The Walking Dead since it began 15 years ago—excited this deep into their story is an accomplishment, particularly when the response to the previous two seasons of the spin-off had been mixed.

Reviewers have described this season 3 opener as a “soft reboot” with Carol and Daryl finding their way first to London, and then Spain, after leaving France behind at the end of season 2. Having taken down the regime intent to control France, and sent Daryl’s proto-son Laurent off to America, the pair had set off down the Channel Tunnel on the start of their own journey back across the Atlantic. 

In this first episode, "Costa da Morte," the pair end up in deserted London, meet up with the last surviving Englishman Julian, and take to the water in his boat. However, as is their inevitable bad luck, a storm wrecks their boat, leaving them washed ashore, injured and disheartened in Spain. But despite everything going wrong for Carol and Daryl, everything went right for the audience, and here are five reasons why:

1. A stop in London

Scott Gimple, Chief of Content Officer for the Walking Dead Universe, has shared that he wanted to show how the rest of the world was dealing with the apocalypse with the show's spinoffs.

While The Ones Who Live (focusing on Rick and Michonne) and Dead City (telling Negan and Maggie’s story) have shown us different parts of the US, Daryl Dixon has already given us France, and is heading to Spain for the rest of season 3, but before that, we get a short visit to England, and its capital, London.

Fans have long craved to see London—a city that is overflowing with history and recognizable landmarks—in the Walking Dead world. So, at the end of the previous season, when Carol and Daryl headed down the Channel Tunnel to England, fans were excited to see how the British Isles had fared in the zombie apocalypse. 

The Scottish characters the pair met last season informed Carol and Daryl that the UK had coped well, getting everything under control quickly. So when they walk through the quiet English countryside and find themselves in a completely deserted London, it’s a shock. 

Their walk across Westminster Bridge to the heart of the capital is a fantastic vista of decaying London, lovingly created by the special effects team. Landmarks like The House of Parliament and St Paul’s Cathedral can be seen in a shot that is familiar to fans of zombie horror, as it’s where Cillian Murphy’s character found himself alone and confused in 28 Days Later.

And it seems like the Londoner that Carol and Daryl run into is facing a similar situation, as Julian (played by British comedy actor and writer Stephen Merchant) tells them he is the last man alive in all of England.

It’s an interesting decision to make Julian the only man alive, because it adds to the truly alien feel of the normally bustling city that they encounter. However, the Daryl Dixon writers do ensure the side street that Carol and Daryl find themselves in places them squarely in London, with some excellent set dressing by the props team.

From beautiful architecture, to a double-decker red bus, a black taxi cab, an underground sign, and the iconic red telephone box, Daryl and Carol are surrounded by the hallmarks that tell them this city of the dead was once the same centre of the Western world that they saw in movies and TV.  

Perhaps most spectacularly of all are the shots of Carol, Daryl, and Julian as they sail down the Thames in Julian’s boat, heading back to America. They pass under Tower Bridge, draped in vines and foliage to the point it’s almost unrecognisable, with all of London decomposing around them. And the only sign of movement in the entire city is groups of shuffling walkers who look down at them with excitement, trying to get close to the only living things in many miles.

It is amazing to know that all of this was achieved without Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride ever leaving Spain, as behind-the-scenes footage reveals London was lovingly recreated by the props, physical, and visual special effects teams behind Daryl Dixon. 

2. Stephen Merchant's appearance

Speaking of Julian, fans loved the British comedy star’s brilliant—but brief—turn in the Walking Dead Universe. Most people might know Merchant for his role in the original The Office, as Nathan, or as Darren in Ricky Gervais's follow-up show Extras.

However, Merchant is also a hugely successful comedy writer, having co-created The Office and Extras, as well as the recent British TV show Outlaws (which starred Christopher Walken). He has also written and directed successful movies like Cemetery Junction and the wrestling title Fighting With My Family.

With such a talented, busy star, it’s not surprising that the actor was only able to appear in one episode, but Julian certainly made an impression in his short time on screen. Julian’s arrival—landing on the balcony of Carol and Daryl’s London apartment, having traversed the city via its roofs—is comic and original, and we know right away the kind of harmless, humorous character he is going to be from his bicycle helmet and wide smile.

Merchant plays Julian as a guileless, endearing London chap who has lost everyone he ever knew yet remains hopeful and generous. His scenes with Carol and Daryl, as they quickly begin to gently manipulate him to let them use his boat to travel back to America, manage to raise a laugh and have the audience fully feel for this lonely man. We are almost immediately hoping he, too, can find a home and love in America, and it’s heartbreaking when he doesn’t.

His emotional, open chat to Daryl about his life before the turn and lack of romantic love just adds to the tragedy of his loss, but if you are going to go out, going out as a walker who nearly kills Carol is the way to go. Many guest stars join the show with hopes of becoming a walker, and Merchant certainly made the most of that opportunity, taking Julian from gentle giant to lurching monster in his final scene.

3. The humor

As well as the sweetly comedic appearance of Julian, the first episode has many touches of gentle or wry humour that always make such a bleak show more palatable. It starts off with the running joke about the tin of hot dogs Carol has found. Having such a cheap, processed food be the symbol of celebration, and a token of ongoing hope and faith, is incredibly funny, and somehow fitting with these two characters who came from harsh, working-class upbringings.

Throughout the 11 seasons of the flagship show, although we saw many scenes of a traumatized, devastated Carol crying and depressed, we also got a taste of her sharp and wry wit. She became known as much for her wicked sense of humor as her survival skills.

From flirtatiously teasing Daryl about the connotations of a shoulder rub, to fooling all the Alexandrians with her cookie-cutter mom persona, to her hilarious reaction to her first sight of Ezekiel and his tiger at the Kingdom, Carol has always had a quick tongue and mind. And in the opening episode of season 3 of Daryl Dixon, we get to see her humor return in full force.

Her dry declaration that “that isn’t how you spell Mexico” when they see a tourism information sign revealing their location in Spain raises a chuckle. And her silly, teasing relationship with Daryl is highlighted even when she is severely injured, running a fever, and she suggests a game of I Spy to Daryl to keep them awake.

When he tells her she knows he hates that game, Carol responds, “I know, that’s what makes it so much fun,” showing just how much she loves to rib and rankle her closest friend.

The scene where Carol most raises a smile, though, is likely when the pair are caught up in the middle of a storm on the ocean and facing certain death. Carol tries to express to Daryl what he means to her, but Daryl shuts it down, insisting they will make it through this. She eventually catches his vibe and agrees they will make it to America, screaming into the wind, “With our f**king hotdogs!” giving the OG Walking Dead star her first f-bomb on the show.

4. Daryl being classic Daryl

One of the biggest complaints of the first 2 seasons of Daryl Dixon was that some friends felt Daryl wasn’t behaving wholly in character with the man they had known from the previous 11 seasons of the main show. Daryl suddenly seemed more open with strangers and more willing to leave his old life behind than some fans would have expected, and when Carol showed up in France—after their initial moving reunion—Daryl seemed cold and angry with his most loved friend. 

Whether this was intentional writing or not, fans are delighted that Daryl seems much more like the grumpy, lovable hero they know. Seeing Daryl, who had previously seemed unsure if he wanted to return to America, having made new connections in France, now determined to get back home, is a welcome sight.

His passion and determination are such that he can’t even play along with Carol’s gentle leading of Julian towards allowing them access to his boat, and just flat out asks where the boat is; a scene that warms the heart of fans who desperately want to see Daryl back stateside. 

His concern for an injured Carol is also a very welcome and familiar sight for fans of the flagship show. Both his refusal to contemplate that the pair will die in the storm and his gentle ministering to her injured shoulder are a touching reminder of why the audience fell in love with the humble, heartfelt man, 15 years ago. 

So too is his open, vulnerable conversation he has with Carol, about what he saw in the Channel Tunnel when he nearly gave up. It is a timely reminder of this long-earned closeness and trust that he has put in Carol, one of the first people to reach out to him and bring him into the fold. Seeing their relationship and connection back to that of early season 10 of The Walking Dead feels like Daryl coming home, emotionally if not physically.

The Daryl we see in the season 3 opener of Daryl Dixon is a man who is self-assured, certain in his identity, protective of those closest to him, and skilled at recognising and dispatching any danger that surrounds him. His life-saving launch at Walker Julian to save the weakened Carol from being bitten, and his desperate yelling her name when he finds her missing from their shelter, are all reminders of Daryl’s closest relationship and his love for his fellow survivor, who helped give him confidence to be the man he has become.

5. Like the early days of The Walking Dead

In pre-season press at San Diego Comic-Con this summer, Reedus shared something that executive producer Greg Nicotero hoped for in the early days of Daryl Dixon: that the spinoff would recapture the early seasons of The Walking Dead. And with "Costa Da Morte," it has absolutely achieved that.

Stuffing an episode with so many scenes of Carol and Daryl alone, just trying to survive, and talking about their lives and losses, is a call back to the fan-favorite episode "Consumed" from The Walking Dead’s fifth season. It also echoes much of the audience’s favorite era of the show, from the first and fourth seasons, where Rick and his entire make-shift family found themselves on the road looking for a place of safety to stay.

Tapping into the survival aspect of the post-apocalypse story, rather than battling human bad guys and warring factions, is a way to really reconnect with the earliest part of Daryl and Carol’s story, and allows for a greater character focus that fans eat up. It’s especially significant for these two characters as the pair bonded so heavily in the second season of The Walking Dead, when Carol’s daughter Sophia went missing, and this focus on their relationship reminds fans of some of those fondly remembered scenes.

It’s rewarding to see how far Carol and Daryl have come since Sophia walked out of Hershell's barn in season 2, and it’s also moving to see the depth of their relationship now, all these years later. Their easy humor, open conversations, and ability to work perfectly as a team really illustrate how well connected and in sync they are, and Daryl’s emotional tending to a sick and injured Carol highlights his love for his travel partner.

Fans have always been completely enamoured with this relationship, whether they see it as potentially romantic or platonic besties, and the focus on their bond and history is an easy way to give fans more of what they loved from the main show.

The very fact that Carol crossed the world simply because she was concerned for Daryl and missed him shows just how much she sees him as half of her whole, and it’s clear in this episode how much that holds true.

The scene when she shares with Daryl how lighter and hopeful she feels about her future is a reward both for Carol as a character and for fans who are overjoyed that Carol’s mission was a success, that she is finally getting to share such a positive moment with the person she came all this way to be with.

Carol and Daryl's journey in the main show has always been lauded as one of the most moving and special aspects of The Walking Dead's character arcs, and seeing that growth and emotion move forward is a clever way to take us back, whilst moving forward.

New episodes of Daryl Dixon season 3 premiere every Sunday night on AMC and AMC+.