The Walking Dead season 9 spoilers: Daryl Dixon could be VERY different – star reveals why

Daryl (played by Norman Reedus) has been one of the favourites on the hit zombie horror ever since his beginning in season two of the series.

Undergoing one of the biggest journeys alongside his close friends Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride), Daryl became one of the most trusted members of the close knit group.

While The Walking Dead has been delivering some huge changes over the last year – in particular the death of Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs) and the subsequent exit of Rick, Daryl has been a staple.

But what if the character hadn’t transformed into the loveable hunk he has become today? Could things have been any different?

The character was originally created by first showrunner Frank Darabont and longtime writers Charles H. Eglee and Jack LoGuidice, actor Norman has spilled the beans on the process.

Speaking in Matt Schichter Interviews, he shared: “I never actually had a conversation at all about the character when I first started with Frank Darabont or anybody.

“I showed up on set and I knew some of Merle’s stuff, so I watched a bunch of tape of Merle, and then I just started to try to create a backstory.”

The star struggled at first, because Robert Kirkman’s comics didn’t include the character.

He decided the best course of action was to mimic Daryl’s older brother Merle (Michael Rooker) instead.

“And then working with the writers, we have very generous writers,” Norman went on. “They bring you in the writers room.

“And then they talk about, ‘What do you think Daryl thinks about T-Dog?’”

“I just tried to imagine what it was like growing up like that, just imagine like having a big brother that totally put me down, had to fight for everything…

“And I thought about reasons why people fight, and some people fight to protect somebody, some people fight to look tough, and some people fight because they’ve always had to.”

Norman went on to say he then took his initial ideas and proceeded to drip-feed family history moments along the way.

These included the addition of his mother’s tragic fate – she died after her own cigarette caught fire in their family home – and the suffering Daryl faced having to tag along with his drug dealer older brother.

Fans are currently waiting for the reveal of where Rick disappeared to last year, and now actor Seth Gilliam has teased his character Father Gabriel knows the truth.

“I don’t know, I would hope so,” he told The Huffington Post in regards to whether Father Gabriel’s secret information about a mystery group could help find the former Sheriff.

“Because what he wants, ultimately, is to be of use and to be of service.

“I would hope that any information that he had would be useful information and could be of service to helping solve the mystery to the puzzle,” the star added.

The Walking Dead continues Sundays on AMC and follows on FOX Mondays in the UK.

source: express.co.uk