Well, it’s official, Carol is out of the Daryl and Carol spin-off of The Walking Dead, as actress Melissa McBride did not want to relocate to Europe where the series will be shooting. There are a lot of questions about this series, namely how Daryl will get his motorcycle to drive across water to get over there, but the main one I have is about which cast member might replace Carol.
Look, I like Norman Reedus, but I think there’s a reason that this was envisioned as a paired Walking Dead spin-off. He needs someone to balance his silence and broodiness. Carol could have been that for him, as she has many times over the years, but if not her, then who?
I think there are a few options here:
Lydia – Daryl was developing a surrogate daughter relationship with Lydia, but that broke apart for the Commonwealth storyline where Daryl is living in the new settlement and Lydia went back to Hilltop. But I think Lydia, and her actress Cassady McClincy, has been impressive in the past when she was given an actual storyline, and I think she could be a good asset in a series like this.
Connie – Again, another Daryl storyline that was abandoned. This one may not have been the show’s fault as actress Lauren Ridloff left the series for a while to go film Marvel’s Eternals, but now that she’s back, she and Daryl have barely spoken, when previously, the two seemed like they were about to start his first romantic relationship in the series. (Daryl ended up hooking up with the eventually evil Reaper woman instead). Connie and Daryl have always been a great pair and I would love to see them together for a series if it can’t be Carol.
Aaron – When The Walking Dead ends, I think there are going to be a lot of characters whose storylines end that probably deserve to be part of one of the spin-offs. Aaron is one such character, who is one of the longest-serving veterans of the series at this point, and I think that he would be a good partner with Daryl in a European adventure. He’s easily one of the toughest survivors at this point, and deserves to live on past the death of the main show.
Judith – The Grimes family is already pretty shattered so sure, why can’t Judith head to Europe with Daryl, even if that means leaving little RJ behind with someone else? I mean, Daryl may be going to Europe against his will, so that could be the reason for it. Judith Grimes is younger than Lydia but Daryl is effectively her uncle and I can see this working as sort of a Last of Us pairing between the two of them, exploring the ruins of Europe.
Of course, all of these ideas come with the same issue, that The Walking Dead is done filming, and this Carol announcement wasn’t made until after that. So I do wonder if the fates of many of these characters may be fixed in the main series, and I wonder how the show is going to set up these spin-offs and now change one of them if they were already written into the finale. But that’s a problem for AMC and the showrunners to solve, I suppose.
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