In The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 we’re reunited with the iconic Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) as they make their way through Europe in hopes of returning to America. We spoke to Reedus about how art & music have influenced the show, what he feels this season’s overarching theme is, and his hopes for Daryl as we get closer to the final season. 

Q: Daryl’s always been an introspective guy, but it seems like this season he’s really taking stock of his life in ways that he hasn’t before. The flashbacks that we see of Daryl’s early years are exciting to see because even after all these years it’s really cool that we continue to peel back the onion and learn more about him. 

Norman Reedus: Yeah, there was a line in the show The Walking Dead back in America where somebody asked Daryl about his mother’s death, and he says, "By the time I got there on my bike, the house was already burning." In this season, we’re telling the real story behind that line. You know, as you go through life, when someone asks you about your past and you don't really want to get into it, you kind of develop a one sentence answer just so you don't have to get into it. So, this was one of those, you know? We’re getting to see what makes Daryl really Daryl now. 

Q: It must be fun to have some of your real-life passions like riding motorcycles so thoroughly incorporated into Daryl’s character. Music has been such an interesting part of the series — whether we’re talking about that powerful Rolling Stones moment with Laurent, or the pulsing sounds of club Demimonde — are there any songs that put you in the right headspace to dive into character? I’ve always wondered what kind of music Daryl would have listened to before The Fall. You know, is he a Motorhead guy or a Sabbath guy? 

NR: Oh yeah, that Rolling Stones song in the finale of Season 2! Well Louis [who plays Laurent] was really nervous about playing the guitar and singing that song. He was shaking. So, I said, "You know what? I'm going to sing it with you!" That wasn't scripted. I told Louis I was going to sing it with him, and I think hearing the lyrics sung between the two of us and feeling what that meant… it really made that a charged emotional scene. 

When we cast Laurent, I met and did a few readings with a couple of different kids, and they were all very actor-y. They all had their hair to one side and were like, "I’ve done this and I’ve done that." And then Louis came in and he was really shy and nervous, and we talked about art and literature, and I was like, "He's so different." 

For the character of Laurent, I felt like these nuns would have taught him about art and literature, but he wouldn't have social skills — I really wanted that kinda kid, you know? And casting was like, "Oh, no, I think we're going to go with this other kid." And I was like, "No, no, no. Rethink this. Think about Louis, and these are the reasons why." Norman wants to stick up for Louis. That's Daryl sticking up for Laurent! It's perfect. 

As far as songs that get me into character? Hmmm, ‘Dirty Boots’ by Sonic Youth has definitely been a song I listen to a lot to get into character. Then sometimes, weird songs that just pop up will fit for specific moments. I remember Merle [played by Michael Rooker) had a scene with Motorhead’s ‘Ace of Spades.’ I'm sure that was a family favorite for the Dixons! Music is a big part of my inspiration that’s for sure. 

Yeah, I figured since we know that you're a music guy. So even though we’re talking about a world where people can't listen to a record in the same way anymore, music is still a part of that world. 

NR: Yeah, for sure. And so is art! There was a director we worked with this season named Leslie Hope, who was really cool. She used art to inspire me for some scenes. She would show me a painting, and she'd be like, "Let's do this for this scene." I'm like, "I love it!" It was so much easier than, getting directions like "Think about this or think about that for this scene." I don't really like to do that. I'm a visual person. And sometimes it’s not even about showing me entirely on screen. Sometimes I want Daryl to be a silhouette. We don’t have to focus on my face —instead let’s have a piece of art in the scene and have me be a tiny black silhouette — show Daryl’s loneliness with those images. I think art and visual stimulation in general is a really good way to communicate ideas. 

I think that essence, that sense of art and its importance does come across in the show in every season. 

I'm really trying to do that with this show. You know? I want it to breathe. I want space. I want to feel the sun on my face. I want to hear the wind. And it's hard to do that unless you have the time and space to allow that to happen. 

A lot of times we just fill in the space, right? We fill in the space with noise, or we fill in the space with music. But sometimes that’s not the right move. Now that we just have Carol and Daryl and around five other characters, we have the time to watch the trees move a little bit. We can Terrence Malick it a little bit, you know? 

Yeah! The show really has that cinematic quality. 

It's really pretty! 

Q: Let’s talk about some themes. If S1 was about Daryl getting back to his community, and S2 was about the reunion between the power duo that is Daryl and Carol, it feels like S3 is really all about their friendship and how it grounds them in the chaos of their world. How does it feel to be on the way to wrapping up not only their story but also working so closely with your real-life buddy Melissa McBride? 

NR: Well at the start of this season, there's that dialogue between Carol and Daryl while we're on our way to London after we’ve come out of the tunnel. Daryl says all we ever do is run and fight. “We just run and we fight. Maybe we're doing this wrong. Maybe there's a better way to live.” That dialogue was my idea to really set the tone for what's going on this season and next season. As we've gone through the years, we've fought for territory, we've fought for food, we’ve fought to defend ourselves, but this season, there's love happening around them, right? People are falling in love. It's how we're introduced to Spain. Sure, people are still fighting, but Carol and Daryl get so wrapped up in all these other people's lives that hopefully, we learn from them, and it changes us. 

Of course, I knew we’d have some sort of major arc as we get closer to the final season, but I'm still not totally sure about the ending yet. Honestly, I don't know how I'm going to feel about the ending once it comes! There's a great David Bowie quote where someone asked him, "What do you think your last words are going to be before you die?" He said they'd be, "But, but, but, but…" That's kind of what I'm thinking I'm going to feel when we get to the final episode. 

For this season I feel like the theme is really “what is home?” I think Daryl's idea of home is changing. I think he's trying to figure out if there's a place in space or time or anywhere in this world where he can ground himself and be content. He's always running, which speaks to a lot of that flashback stuff this season, he’s running, running, running. Why is he always running? "Why do we always run and fight?" Well, he's good at it, but is there a hammock somewhere where he can sit and just watch the wind blow? 

He deserves that! He's also recently suffered a great loss of love with Isabelle’s death. 

Yeah, but it's not that he lost the love, it's that he lost the possibility of having that love. You know? Somebody might spin it as, "Oh, he lost his love.” But I keep saying it's not that. It's that he almost took a step forward. He almost had a good thing, but he just didn’t get there. 

That makes me sad for Daryl because I so badly want him to have a happy ending. 

Yeah, me too.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon airs on Sundays at 9/8c on AMC. Episodes are available to stream on amc.com (with a cable provider login), and the AMC apps for mobile and devices. You can also watch episodes via AMC+ at amcplus.com or through the new AMC+ app available on iPhone, iPad, Android, Fire TV, Apple TV, and Roku plus Samsung and Vizio smart TVs. AMC+ can also be streamed through a variety of providers, including AppleTV, Prime Video Channels, DirectTV, Dish, Roku Channel, Sling, and Xfinity. Sign up for AMC+ now.