Thanks to our friends over at Digital Spy, we have the following interview with The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus. The actor plays crossbow wielding bad-ass 'Daryl Dixon', an original character created specifically for the show. Below are a few key excerpts, but be sure to click on the link at the bottom of the page to read the interview in full. The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, October 14th.
On Taking On A Larger Role In Season Three:
Well, I've kind of stepped up in certain areas, so there is more for me to do. Shane (Jon Bernthal) left last year and he was a big part of the storyline - we have a lot of new characters, it's sort of spreading out. I don't want to give anything away, but I've sort of become Rick's right hand man in a way, so I'm doing a lot of physical stuff.
On Playing The Most Bad-Ass Character On Television:
It's a blast - I run around shooting zombies in the brain all day, it's pretty exciting! I like playing him, as emotionally immature as he is. He's sort of like a little kid in a lot of ways. He is figuring out how to deal with people and situations for the first time. Even if there wasn't a zombie apocalypse, I don't know he'd be hanging out with many people - he's a man of few words!
On The Prison:
Well, we find the prison and when Rick sees it, he kind of imagines this whole grand idea. It's kind of like Club Med to us, a place where you can sleep easy at night. But the prison... you can sleep there and nobody can get in and it keeps you safe from walkers, but first you have to clear it out. There's a whole bunch of episodes a lot about that - we're finding people in the prison and all these things happen. It's nice for us, but the problem is that other people think the same thing!
On David Morrissey's Take On Iconic Villain, 'The Governor':
He's got a very commanding energy to him. He's quite the charmer, David Morrissey, but he has this evil behind his eyes - the way that he's playing this character and how they're writing him... it's interesting. He's not a one-dimensional guy. You look at the comic and people were going, 'You need this person to play this part and this person to play that part', but I think David is just the exact right person for this job because he has this martyr syndrome at the same time that he's twisting his moustache, so to speak. But he's a very interesting guy, he's super-charming. I've met his wife and his kids and I love the whole family... I want to move in!
On The Return Of 'Merle Dixon':
There's a lot of talk about this right now. He's going to come back and he's going to come back pissed. He's going to want revenge. But where do Daryl's loyalties lie? There's going to be a lot of conflict and Michael Rooker is such a fun actor - he's so over-the-top, in the best possible way. He's such a bad guy! When I first found out he was my brother, I was so excited.
On The Freedom The Not Being A Character From The Comic Books Give Him:
I always tease [comic creator] Robert Kirkman about putting me into the comic book; it may happen, you never know. But I like not having a guideline. When I started this show, I never really had any conversations with Frank [Darabont] about Daryl. Frank created this character and he just sort of let me run with it. I had all these little subtle things that I tried to do from the beginning that showed that he had all this damage inside of him. I'm very grateful to the people who picked up on it; the fans pick up on all these little things. These little things are turning into storylines - it's nice that you can plant these little seeds as you go along and sometimes they turn into trees.