‘The Walking Dead’ Confirms Carol Is Out Of The Daryl Spin-Off Series Set In Europe

I reported on the rumblings a few days ago about this, and now AMC has confirmed something that Walking Dead fans are not going to love. Melissa McBride’s Carol will not be joining Norman Reedus’s Daryl Dixon in the pair’s spin-off, which we also now know will take place and Europe. And filming in Europe is the reason she won’t be joining.

Here’s the new statement from AMC, originally given to TVLine who confirmed the Walking Dead development with their own sources:

“Melissa McBride has given life to one of the most interesting, real, human and popular characters in The Walking Dead Universe. Unfortunately, she is no longer able to participate in the previously announced spin-off focused on the Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier characters, which will be set and filmed in Europe this summer and premiere next year. Relocating to Europe became logistically untenable for Melissa at this time. We know fans will be disappointed by this news, but The Walking Dead Universe continues to grow and expand in interesting ways and we very much hope to see Carol again in the near future.”

This corroborates what was being rumored before this, that the issue had come down to filming location, a frequent problem for many TV shows including one of the reasons behind the departure of Rick Grimes’ Andrew Lincoln, who was far away from his family in the UK. While I don’t know the specifics of McBride’s situation, I can understand why family or personal issues might keep her in the US. The statement seems to leave the door open to Carol’s return, which could happen anywhere, given the amount of spin-offs The Walking Dead is currently working on.

This also disproves the wild theory that the Daryl and Carol spin-off was an elaborate smokescreen for the death of one of them at the end of this season. Daryl will continue on in the spin-off, which shoots this summer, though it’s unclear whether he will be entirely solo or perhaps bring someone else from the cast with him.

Europe is the other big news item here, and I am certainly wondering how and why Daryl Dixon finds himself in Europe after the events of the main Walking Dead show. But die-hard fans who got all the way through The Walking Dead: World Beyond should be excited about the prospect, given that the finale of that show revealed that A) it seemed like the origin point of the zombie outbreak was there and B) in Europe (France, in the scene) there appear to be “fast” zombies, 28 Days Later style, variants of the slow shamblers in the US. This should be all but confirmed, given the newly announced location.

Obviously, doing this show with both Daryl and Carol would have been idea, but I don’t think AMC needs to shutter the project because McBride can’t relocate. I look forward to seeing if any other cast members come along (bring Lydia!) and what Daryl and company do when they get across the ocean. And also uh, how they get across the ocean.

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