The Walking Dead season 11 looks to be preparing Daryl Dixon for Rick Grimes’ comic book death scene – despite the supposed spinoff with Carol. Moving to the Commonwealth is an adjustment for everyone, not least The Walking Dead‘s viewership, who would be forgiven for thinking they’d tuned into a completely different apocalypse. The most surprising Commonwealth response comes from Norman Reedus’ Daryl Dixon, who is clearly doing everything possible to make the alliance work – whether that be joining the military, or letting the hateful Sebastian Milton take credit for a capture Daryl himself made.
If past seasons are any kind of precedent, The Walking Dead‘s final chapter is bound to be a bloody affair. Because of AMC’s franchise expansion, however, some characters are already spared the chop – most notably Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier. The two Walking Dead veterans were announced for their own solo spinoff shortly after season 11 was confirmed as the show’s ending, cladding both in impenetrable plot armor ahead of the Commonwealth arc… but is the spinoff just a ruse to leave audiences even more shocked when Daryl gets Rick Grimes’ comic book death scene?
The Walking Dead comic books end with Rick Grimes quelling a civil war within the Commonwealth, and Pamela Milton removed from her position of leadership. Rick goes to bed believing the two communities have just come one step closer toward rebuilding civilization, but a vengeful Sebastian Milton sneaks up and shoots The Walking Dead‘s hero in cold blood, leaving Carl to walk in on his zombified father the next morning. Rick hasn’t been involved in The Walking Dead since season 9, so that’s unlikely to happen on TV (even if Andrew Lincoln does return for the finale), but based on events in “New Haunts,” Daryl could be the one Sebastian kills instead.
Just like Rick in The Walking Dead‘s comics, Daryl is desperate to avoid a fight against the Commonwealth. He swallows his pride joining the army, he tolerates nonsense season 5 Daryl would’ve spilled blood over, and he even tells Carol, “There’s always something you’ve got to do to make it work…” Daryl is also doing a stellar job of inciting Sebastian’s wrath, and vice versa. Although he earns points by letting Sebastian take the glory for catching the Commonwealth’s knife-wielding waiter, Daryl and Sebastian are very good at antagonizing each other. Were the Alexandrian to somehow kick Pamela out of office in a future episode, these early personality clashes gives Sebastian even more reason to shoot Daryl down. Lastly, Daryl getting Rick’s comic death would explain why Norman Reedus has suddenly become a surrogate father to Judith. Very much Daddy Daryl since arriving in the Commonwealth, The Walking Dead could be setting up Judith for Carl’s role – walking in to find Daryl zombified following a visit in the night from Sebastian.
If Daryl dies in The Walking Dead season 11, what does that mean for his planned spinoff with Carol? Well, perhaps there never was a planned spinoff with Carol. Sending The Walking Dead‘s two least talkative characters out into the wild always felt like a strange direction for a spinoff series. Maybe the announcement was only made to draw suspicion away from Daryl Dixon’s death in The Walking Dead? In which case, top marks for dedication.
Some might argue that Daryl deserves better than being gunned down by a sniveling weasel like Sebastian Milton, but the same applied to Rick Grimes. Not only is context important in this scenario (dying in the name of creating a lasting peace isn’t a bad way to go, whoever pulls the trigger), but giving Daryl the same death scene as the comics’ main character would speak to his importance – a twisted honor for Norman Reedus’ The Walking Dead character.
