Daryl Dixon’ Season 3 Would Be This Good?

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon kicked off its third season, taking the story to a completely different location. The story in The Walking Dead spin-off series centers around fan-favorite character Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and begins in France. Daryl wound up there by boat, acclimating to a whole new country where people speak an unfamiliar language.

In Season 3, the story picks up as he and his best friend Carol (Melissa McBride) head out on a journey home, which initially takes them to England. Eventually, they are shipwrecked in Spain, where the bulk of the season takes place. However, based on the first episode, “Costa da Morte,” which translates to “Coast of Death” from Portuguese, it will be a wild ride.

There Are Still Lots of New Things (And People) to Discover

You might think that 11 seasons into the original series and three seasons into this spin-off, it would be the same tired old story, again and again. However, the writers manage to keep things fresh and exciting, not just with the locale, but also with the storylines.

In the first episode, for example, we see new ways to kill walkers. When one startles Carol, she rushes to grab the first thing she can find, which is a fire extinguisher. She holds it up to the walker’s mouth and sprays the extinguishing agent and gas down its throat. Now, that’s something we have never seen before and couldn’t imagine being written in a million years.

Then, there’s the scene-stealing Julian, played by Stephen Merchant. The sole survivor in England, he rappels from building to building on a makeshift zipline, keeping himself out of harm’s way. He also uses Big Ben as his daily timer to navigate on the ground. Each time the bells go off, the walkers are distracted, giving him an opening. It’s clever and impressive that he has managed so long, especially on his own.

Daryl and Carol grow to enjoy his company, even propping him up to help him build his confidence, like a set of parents. Sure, they’re only doing it because it benefits them: they need him, his boat, and his knowledge of sailing to get them to America. But it’s a fun dynamic to see.

The friendship between Daryl and Carol is also amplified. Watching Daryl care for an injured Carol is fitting, reflecting the softer side he has developed over the years. But the dynamic has turned into something especially sweet. While others have drawn out Daryl’s calmer, caring side, he seems most at home and comfortable when he’s with Carol.

The Set-up for What’s To Come in ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’

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While the episode doesn’t show much in the way of culture for England, aside from Julian’s quirky name for walkers as “squids” (the result of a Cockney rhyming word game) and his mention of potentially seeing the Queen ambling about outside or joking about visiting the Royal Palace, the ending does set things up for what’s to come.

After dealing with inclement weather, crashing the boat ashore, and sadly losing Julian, Carol and Daryl discover that they are in Spain. They didn’t get far. And now they have to come up with a whole new plan to figure out how to get out of there. Naturally, considering everything we know already about Season 3, they spend quite a bit of time there helping locals fight battles that seem all too familiar.

Indeed, that sense of familiarity is just as valuable for the show as the exciting new aspects. After a group wearing bullhorns raids their boat, it’s clear that the situation is no different in Spain than it is everywhere they have been in the U.S. and even in France. There are good people and bad people, with some falling somewhere in between. But everyone is just trying to survive the best they can.

Even with these similarities, the show remains fresh. We get to follow two fan favorite characters on a journey now in different parts of the world. With the cultural differences, scenery, languages, and even accents, it adds a richness to the plot. For the first two seasons, this involved a lot of French dialogue and stunning scenery; Daryl himself even expanded his horizons and learned some words and phrases.

In this season, it will be Spanish, and a lot of subtitles for those who don’t speak it. With filming locations confirmed to include Madrid, Galicia, Catalonia, Valencia, Belchite, and Seville, there’s quite a bit of both culture and history to explore as well. The storylines will be rife with cultural undertones, costumes, and customs, making it fresh and new. That’s impressive since we’re three seasons into this show, 14 including the original, and even more when you add the numerous other spin-offs.

What To Expect From ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’ Season 3

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There’s a lot to come for the third season. They come across a community, and their need to help oppressed people takes charge, much as they have many times over in the original series. They meet all types of enemies, including groups of people who mirror those they know from America, too, with a Spanish twist, of course.

Aside from Daryl and Carol, the season features an entirely new cast of Spanish actors, including Eduardo Noriega (Open Your Eyes), Óscar Jaenada (2025’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), Alexandra Masangkay (Stags), Greta Fernández (Cuckoo), and others. AMC’s description notes “as [Daryl and Carol] struggle to find their way back [home], the path takes them farther astray, leading them through distant lands with ever-changing and unfamiliar conditions as they witness the various effects of the walker apocalypse.”

Reviews are favorable, with Paste Magazine saying Daryl is a role “Reedus was born to play,” IGN Movies calling it a “strong, action-packed season,” and Show Snob highlighting the synergy between Daryl and Carol as being the “beating pulse” of the season, a “testament to enduring loyalty and the poetry of companionship.” That sort of friendship transcends country and language barriers.

‘Daryl Dixon’ Season 3 Is Some of the Same, and That’s Okay

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If this situation were to actually occur, would we expect the response to be markedly different from one country to another? Probably not. There will be all types of people everywhere, those who gravitate to certain ways of life and those to another. Some are selfless, while others are selfish.

As Julian tells Daryl and Carol, while recalling the events that led to the downfall of England, things there were managed for a while “until they weren’t.” Once people started breaking off into “tribes” and looking for someone to blame, it got heated and dangerous. Fans of The Walking Dead know that story all too well.

Is it the same story again and again? It seems so. However, with this energetic new setting, a different culture, language, and two favorite characters at the center growing closer to one another than ever before, the spin-off remains one of the best of many to have been released since The Walking Dead was on TV. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is available to stream on AMC+.

The Walking Dead

Release Date

2010 – 2022

Network

AMC

Directors

David Boyd, Ernest R. Dickerson, Billy Gierhart, Guy Ferland, Laura Belsey, Jeffrey F. January, Michael Cudlitz, Sharat Raju, Alrick Riley, Michael Slovis, Michelle MacLaren, Rosemary Rodriguez, Seith Mann, Tricia Brock, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Daniel Sackheim, Fred Toye, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Jon Amiel, Kari Skogland, Kevin Dowling, Tawnia McKiernan, Larry Teng, Julius Ramsay

Writers

Channing Powell, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Glen Mazzara, Jim Barnes, Vivian Tse, Robert Kirkman, Erik Mountain, Evan Reilly, Kevin Deiboldt, Julia Ruchman, Nicole Mirante-Matthews, Nichole Beattie, Eddie Guzelian, Geraldine Inoa, Magali Lozano, Curtis Gwinn, LaToya Morgan, Eli Jorne, Adam Fierro, Frank Renzulli, Ryan Coleman, Jack LoGiudice, Charles H. Eglee