'Daryl Dixon' is a different flavor from 'Walking Dead,' serving up a cinematic trip through France
"Walking Dead" fans hungry for more of the same from France-set spinoff "The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon" will be served a very different dish, at least cinematically. Vive la différence!
The new show's filmmaking ambitions — its appetites — are divergent. In an Entertainment Weekly interview before the SAG-AFTRA strike, star Norman Reedus (who is also a painter, sculptor and photographer) said, "We're making art. ... It's a different animal and it's beautiful, it's touching, and it's sort of amazing to look at and listen to and watch and feel."
Season 1 only approximates what executive producer and longtime "Walking Dead" fixture says was Reedus' initial idea of Daryl as a lone wanderer, meeting and helping people on his travels à la "" or "." But if its plot can be summed up as a "reluctant hero shepherding the golden child" road movie — yes, similar to many others, including recent hits like "" — its look and feel is unlike anything else. Apart from cornerstones Reedus and Nicotero, and new-to-"Dead" showrunner David Zabel, many key collaborators are European. And it shows.
