The Walking Dead, a story about lead man Rick Grimes as he makes his way through a world that he once knew, a world that is now occupied by zombies. The story features Andrew Lincoln, who plays Rick Grimes, who wakes up from a coma to find that the world he once knew is now gone, and his only task at this point is to survive and make sense of the reality. While the story is centered around Rick and Carl, now that Lori has died, it is funny that there is another character that has grown beyond the main character, which is Daryl Dixon.
Daryl Dixon
Daryl Dixon, played by Norman Reedus, is a redneck that shows strength, ruggedness, compassion, and the will to survive. The character played by Reedus has taken on a life of its own, and one can argue that the fan following of Daryl is now larger, and more intense, than that of Rick Grimes which is played by Andrew Lincoln. So the question is how did a secondary character in the story become bigger and larger than that of the main character? Could it be the character in the show, the fact that more people know Reedus, or simply his good looks?
So how does AMC, and Kirkman, eventually kill off Daryl without angering too many fans? I mean we all know that “nobody is safe”, but the fanaticism behind Daryl Dixon doesn’t make this easy. Should he be a character that makes it to the final season, and then has his day, or will they find a way for him to die in season 4? Nobody really knows except for the writers and the people who are planning its ultimate outcome.
Personally, being on Twitter and Facebook, you can easily see the fans that are gung-ho about Norman Reedus. However, you do not see the same for Andrew Lincoln and Rick Grimes. There has even been slogans made up such as, “If Daryl dies, we Riot!”. In fact, if you simply type into Google, “If Daryl”, it auto-completes for you with just that.
Google – “If Daryl”
The question remains, how do you eventually kill off one of the shows biggest characters without alienating the people who watch the show? Should AMC even be concerned, or is there really some backlash that could take place in which could eventually drive the show down in terms of viewership. While it could just be nothing, what if the killing off of Daryl Dixon actually does do in the show in the end? Would it be something that AMC should chance, or just ride out the character as long as possible?
Norman Reedus
While some can say it doesn’t matter if Daryl dies, and that nobody should really care or really give a hoot, isn’t it really the fans that help to keep the show around? Norman Reedus has either killed the role as Daryl Dixon, or it was bound to happen with the character. People could just be naturally drawn to his character in the series, drawn to his personality, his demeanor, or as I said before his good looks. The fact that Daryl Dixon has grown to such fanaticism is something that cannot be overlooked.
There was a saying during the banking crisis that happened in the US, and worldwide, which is “too big to fail”. We know now that even in the banking industry there is no such thing as “too big to fail”, and we know that AMC has said that “nobody is safe”, so we can assume that one day Daryl will die. The only question that people can truly wonder about, is when. Daryl will die eventually, and for all we know it can happen in season 3, season 4 or maybe in the shows final episode, but we just don’t know.
What fans should be doing is ultimately preparing for when their fan favorite will die, because it will happen. In the meantime, the fans may actually have some weight in terms of when that day will come. There may be some truth behind the thought, the bigger the character, the longer they last. However, only time will tell.
Daryl Dixon Tribute Video
