The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has been renewed for a second season, this time with Carol Peletier joining the titular character in France.
With The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live‘s first season wrapped, the next series on AMC’s undead roster is the second season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Subtitled The Book of Carol, the second season reintroduces Daryl’s right-hand woman, Carol Peletier, into the mix as she tries to find her best friend. She’ll just have to take a very long boat ride to succeed.
The spinoff series featuring one of The Walking Dead‘s fan-favorite characters took no time to renew itself. AMC announced its second season months before the first season was even announced, alongside the news of Dead City‘s renewal. With Norman Reedus as the lead, there was no doubt in AMC’s mind that they’d have the numbers to accomplish a multi-season story. They weren’t wrong as the premiere of Daryl Dixon was the most-viewed premiere in AMC+’s history, which was only broken by The Ones Who Live‘s premiere. If there is one certainty, Daryl Dixon never goes out of style.
When and Where to Watch Daryl Dixon Season 2
An official release date has yet to be announced, but AMC has confirmed that Daryl Dixon Season 2 will premiere in summer 2024. Since the first season premiered in September, Daryl Dixon Season 2 is likely to air closer to August. The second season will reportedly have six episodes, the same as Season 1. The better news for Daryl and Carol fans is that a third season is also in development, and will most likely debut in 2025.
Daryl Dixon Season 2 will air on AMC and AMC+, just like previous Walking Dead shows. Since The Ones Who Live episodes debuted Sunday mornings on AMC+, Daryl Dixon will probably follow suit. This means subscribers can watch episodes hours earlier than the intended premiere date on AMC, which is reserved for 8 P.M. ET.
The writers for Daryl Dixon’s second season have also been confirmed. Showrunner David Zabel co-wrote Episodes 4, 5 and 6 with Jason Richman, who also co-wrote episodes of Season 1. Another Season 1 writer, Laura Snow, is credited for penning Episode 6. Additionally, the Season 2 premiere was written by Shannon Gross, Episode 2 by Keith Staskiewicz and Episode 3 by Lisa Zwerling.
The latter of whom frequently collaborated with Zabel on the medical drama ER.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Cast and Characters
Being the titular character of the series, Norman Reedus will continue to take top billing in the second season. A major cast change that fans are welcoming is Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, who previously portrayed the character for all 11 seasons of The Walking Dead. Early news about the spinoff had Reedus and McBride as co-leads, but McBride eventually dropped out of the project due to reported creative differences. Reducing the spinoff down to just Daryl wasn’t a drastic shake-up that broke the series, but Carol’s absence was certainly felt.
McBride returned in the fifth episode as just a voice, and made a live cameo in the Season 1 finale. Positive reactions to both appearances solidified that Carol is an integral part of Daryl’s story, no matter what continent they’re on. Daryl Dixon is one of the few Walking Dead spinoffs that’s had luck with developing complex supporting characters that can easily carry the show in the lead’s absence. Clémence Poésy will return as Isabelle Carriere, who was the breakout character in Season 1.
Alongside her is Louis Puech Scigliuzzi as the proclaimed “Messiah” Laurent Carriere, Laïka Blanc-Francard as Sylvie and Eriq Ebouaney as Fallou. Characters of the antagonistic Power of the Living Group who will appear in Season 2 are Marion Genet (Anne Charrier) and Stéphane Codron (Romain Levi). The Resident star Manish Dayal will join the cast in the second season as Ash, an engineer from Boston who’s currently stationed in Maine. His location teases a future clash or collaboration with Carol as she tries to track down Daryl’s location.
There’s not a full trailer out yet for Daryl Dixon Season 2, but AMC isn’t leaving fans hanging. After the Season 1 finale, AMC gifted fans with a Season 2 teaser featuring the dual storylines of Carol and Daryl. Carol enlists the help of Ash as she hangs by a thread in the midst of walkers and sinister men, and Daryl continues to aid Laurent and Isabelle in the upcoming war against the Power of the Living.
Following the series finale of The Ones Who Live, AMC released a sneak peek of Daryl Dixon Season 2 that features both the titular character and Carol on their individual adventures. The 30-second TV spot is far from revealing, but it gives a good look at what fans can expect from their parallel storylines. The sneak peek shows Daryl ambushing Genet and the Power of the Living soldiers in an abandoned town with the help of new allies he made at the Mont-Saint-Michel, also known as “The Nest.” Meanwhile, Carol is putting her tracking skills to good use as she comes across the men that kidnapped Daryl and sent him on a boat to France. She gets a hold of Daryl’s signature crossbow, which was dearly missed in Season 1.
The Plot Details of Daryl Dixon Season 2
Going off how Daryl Dixon‘s Season 1 finale set up Season 2, the fight for freedom is far from over. If anything, Daryl antagonizing Genet and the Power of the Living only triggered them to officially make moves against the Union of Hope, who’s sole job is to protect Laurent. Daryl choosing to stay in France at least gives Laurent and Isabelle a fighting chance to survive this new threat. While Rick Grimes has made it back home, it’ll be a long time before Daryl gets to see him again. But according to Zabel, Daryl will face a moral dilemma as he struggles with his decision to stay with his new friends, rather than going back home to America. As for Carol, all Zabel has teased is the external story of her journey to find Daryl, and an unspecified “internal problem” that plays out across the second season.
Aside from Carol’s mission to get across the ocean to France’s shore, another head-turning storyline will be the redemption of Codron. As a grieving soldier of the Power of the Living, Codron pursued revenge against Daryl for the death of his brother in Season 1. But when he was ordered to kill Laurent, he broke his alliance with Genet. Murdering children was a line he didn’t want to cross, but it cost him his freedom. He’s currently imprisoned by Genet, who’s also experimenting with new walker variants. How Codron escapes the fate of being another failed experiment is a question Season 2 will have to answer.