After a good first season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, which saw our hero now living in France, Season 2 was even better, mainly thanks to bringing in Carol (Melissa McBride) to search for Daryl (Norman Reedus) and find him in The Book of Carol. They are the best relationship in The Walking Dead universe, but Daryl Dixon thrived on more than simple nostalgia. The series all stood out by creating some compelling stories with intriguing villains.
Two of them stood out the most, with Daryl put in between them. There was Losang (Joel de Fuente) as the religious zealot who was so certain that young Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) was a Messiah that he was willing to kill for his beliefs. Then there was Genet (Anne Charrier), a woman who rose from nothing before the outbreak to become a leader with her own amped-up super-walker army. However, by the end of the season, both were shockingly dead, as was Jacinta (Nassima Benchicou), who temporarily tried to take control too. With them gone, what does Season 3 of Daryl Dixon do next?
Genet, Losang, and Jacinta All Died in Season 2 of 'Daryl Dixon'
It wasn't enough to simply transplant Daryl halfway across the world, from the Commonwealth in Ohio to the outskirts of Paris, France, in the first season of Daryl Dixon. He needed conflict beyond simply trying to get home because that wasn't happening. The writers gave him that by giving him something to fight for. After being taken in by the religious group known as the Union of Hope, he fell for Isabelle (Clémence Poésy) and became a father figure to Laurent, a boy who was treated like the savior of humanity, but who didn't believe the hype and just wanted to be a kid.
This is clever writing because Daryl Dixon isn't as simple as good versus bad. Instead, Daryl and the people he had quickly come to love were caught between two different villains. That all came to a head in the latter half of Season 2. From the moment Carol showed up in Episode 4, The Book of Carol became complete chaos, as not only was she trying to get Daryl and Laurent out of the country, but they had to fend off antagonists at every turn.
Genet was a more interesting villain than most because of her endgame. She wasn't only after power, but complete dominance in a way we'd never seen before. Her scientists had created a serum that, when injected into walkers, turned them into amped-up, super-strength soldiers of the living dead. Genet hoped to create a new army this way, but before she could see it through, Carol shot her in the back with one of the darts, and the serum immediately killed her. Daryl Dixon's big bad was gone, but it appeared that a new one would rise in Losang. He had already become even more hated by killing Isabelle, and now he had secured Genet's forces to join him. That could have been interesting, but no sooner did he gain power than he lost it after Daryl bashed his brains in with a skull. The season finale tried once again, as now it was up to Jacinta to take over and capture Laurent before he left France, but she quickly failed, and then took her own life.
Season 3 of 'Daryl Dixon' Is Leaving France Behind
A third season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is not only confirmed but is already shooting. There's no waiting around in between seasons with this Walking Dead spin-off. That's great news, and we also have information about what's coming next. The second season finale showed Daryl and Carol alone in the Chunnel heading from France to England, where they've been told there is a way to get back to America. This is exactly what a new season needs. Daryl Dixon had done everything possible in France, and with damn near everyone dead, there were no new paths left. The Chunnel, however, leads to all kinds of adventures.
We know that the third season will open in England, before heading to Spain, but what's not known is what our dominant plotline will be. There will be a stop in England, with Stephen Merchant signed on as part of the cast, but Daryl Dixon is going to take a turn. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Executive Producer Scott M. Gimple spoke about the third season ending up in Spain, adding, “It's got to be some sort of detour, right? The Chunnel does not go to Spain."
It's Imperative That 'Daryl Dixon' Creates a New Compelling Villain
Season 3 of Daryl Dixon will not be a continuation of past storylines, but a hard reset that begins anew. Outside of Daryl and Carol, everything around them will be different. The original Walking Dead usually knew how to do this as well, moving the story along from various locations to shake things up and introduce new characters, both good and bad. Daryl and Carol are going to meet all kinds of people for the first time, and they'll have to learn if they can be trusted or not. They're sure to run into some threats along the way, but for Season 3 to really succeed, it needs to introduce a new big bad. It's not enough to just have Daryl and Carol together. Like any drama, they need conflict, protagonists need an antagonist.
The issue for Daryl Dixon will be what to do with the next major villain, especially when Daryl and Carol have seen every kind of evil there is over the years. For Pete's sake, these poor people just escaped super zombies and a cult! How does a third season top that without jumping the shark? Season 3 would best be served by remembering that less can be more. We don't need religious fanatics and walkers on steroids. Instead, give us a more realistic villain with simpler goals, a character who is more terrifying by who they are, and not what they believe, or because they have an extreme goal they want to accomplish. Remember how scary Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) was in the beginning when he was just a madman with a baseball bat wrapped in barbwire? That was way more effective than cults and super zombies. Daryl Dixon's third season needs to remember what worked in the past and replicate not those characters per se, but the horrified feeling they gave us.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is available to watch on AMC+ in the U.S.
