Rick Grimes may have returned to The Walking Dead alive and well, but AMC’s zombie franchise keeps finding new ways to make his disappearance more tragic. After Andrew Lincoln left The Walking Dead in season 9, a lengthy time skip allowed the main survivors to do their mourning off-screen. The exception was Daryl Dixon. Refusing to give up hope, Daryl continued searching for his post-apocalyptic brother long after everyone else had moved on.
Daryl was, of course, completely right, and Rick has since returned to Alexandria following a stint in the Civic Republic Military. Frustratingly, Daryl departed before he was able to see his faith in Rick bear fruit. Daryl heard a whisper of Rick’s existence via Judith (who heard via Michonne), but to all intents and purposes, the ex-sheriff is still presumed dead during Daryl Dixon’s solo series.
Daryl Dixon Season 3 Explains The Deeper Reason Daryl Never Gave Up On Rick
Daryl Dixon season 3, episode 6 finds Norman Reedus’ nomadic titular hero on a trip to Barcelona with new friend Paz, as they seek to rescue prisoners from the Spanish monarchy. During a brief gap in their journey, Paz recounts past efforts to liberate her lover from the villainous community, telling Daryl:
“[I chased] the convoy from town to town. Always too late. I felt like if I stopped it would become real – not seeing her again. But if I didn’t give up-“
Daryl then interjects:
“-you wouldn’t have to accept it. I get it.“
At first glance, it may appear that Daryl is referring to Isabelle here. His French love interest perished in Daryl Dixon season 2, and Reedus’ character hasn’t been quite the same since. Upon closer inspection, however, Daryl is more likely talking about Rick Grimes, admitting that he never stopped looking for Rick primarily to avoid the prospect of not seeing him again becoming “real.”
From this, it can be surmised that during his long days spent by the river looking for signs of Grimes, Daryl never realistically expected to find a bloodied, bearded, breathing body on the shore. The real purpose of Daryl’s vigil was merely to delay accepting the situation for as long as practically possible.
Knowing this makes Rick Grimes’ supposed death even more upsetting than it already was. Daryl endured a troubled childhood – another aspect of the character Daryl Dixon season 3 has delved deeper into – and Rick, alongside Carol, became one of the first people he fully dropped his walls around.
Daryl’s endless search for Rick was never based on some deep hunter’s instinct that his friend survived, but on the innocent and child-like fear of admitting The Walking Dead‘s zombie outbreak had dealt yet another cruel blow.
Daryl Dixon Season 4 Needs A Rick Grimes Cameo More Than Ever
Because Daryl Dixon was the last survivor to give up on Rick, and because Daryl left the Commonwealth before seeing his long-lost pal return, The Walking Dead‘s story will never be complete without a reunion between Norman Reedus and Andrew Lincoln. That was true before Daryl Dixon season 3, episode 6, but is even truer after it.
The conversation between Daryl and Paz highlights how the loss of Rick still looms large over Reedus’ character. More importantly, it also shows how the bridge incident sent Daryl spinning into a period of inner denial, triggering his childhood abandonment issues and exposing a vulnerability The Walking Dead had never before revealed.
The pressure on this emotional reservoir must be released, and the only way to do that is with an in-person meeting between Daryl Dixon and Rick Grimes before The Walking Dead ends. Daryl Dixon season 4 feels like the most likely place to make such a thing happen, and the only real obstacle would be Andrew Lincoln’s availability to make a cameo.
- First Episode Air Date
-
October 31, 2010
- First TV Show
-
The Walking Dead
- Latest TV Show
-
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live
The Walking Dead is a massive multimedia franchise that began with a comic book series created by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. The franchise gained widespread popularity with the launch of the television series The Walking Dead in 2010 on AMC, which chronicles the lives of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies, referred to as “walkers.” The success of the original show has led to numerous spin-offs, web series, video games, novels, and other media. The franchise explores themes of survival, human nature, and the breakdown of society in the face of an existential threat, making it one of the most successful and influential horror series of the 21st century.
