The Daily Beast
Entertainment
03.13.14
Norman Reedus: Daryl Doesn’t Need Romance, ‘The Walking Dead’ Isn’t About Erections
Who should Daryl sleep with? Should the crossbow aficionado cut his hair? The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus wants everyone to just calm down.
For three and a half years he’s been the object of cult-like fan love. Crowds amass to catch a glimpse whenever he leaves The Walking Dead’s set in Georgia. “If Daryl Dies, We Riot” is a slogan turned merchandise gold. And while he isn’t married, there’s more than one “Mrs. Reedus” on his Twitter feed. Norman Reedus, alternately known as crossbow aficionado Daryl Dixon on AMC’s zombie show, is cool with most of the attention. There are a few things he’s pretty much sick of though—enough to make him consider quitting social media. Chief among these is hearing about Daryl’s supposed “romances.”
“It’s not a reality show,” he says of how some viewers pair Daryl up with Carol (Melissa McBride) or, most recently, Beth (Emily Kinney). (Daryl himself has never shown more than close friendship with any female on the show.) And don’t even get Reedus started on the people nagging him to cut his hair.
The Daily Beast caught up with Reedus to talk about the crazies, True Detective, and Daryl’s latest plot twists.
What do you think it is about Beth that’s allowed Daryl to open up?
She’s so honest, there’s not a bad bone in her body. She’s such a non-threatening person. I think them being in this situation and him protecting her and her becoming a light in the tunnel for this guy [has got him] following her lead and showing him hope. I think that that’s something that he finds very brave and he looks up to her in that way. They’ve sort of adopted each other.
When Daryl and Beth are in the house and he suggests that maybe they should just stay there together and Beth asks what changed his mind about whether people can be good, why do you think he’s reluctant to say that it was her?
It just seems like they’re always running again and running again. Then Daryl says to Beth, “This is kinda nice. We’re having dinner together and I can protect you. You take care of me, I’ll take care of you.” She sort of sparked hope in him and I think he took that spark a little further in his head and turned it into a little fire. I think it’s a big thing for Daryl to say. For him to say that…I don’t think he’s the type of guy who puts himself out there emotionally. I think those are hard words to come out of his mouth.
You know people are now asking about a romance.
It’s crazy the amount of Internet stuff. I don’t think that it’s so much a romantic thing like he’s trying to bone Beth, you know what I mean? It’s not about “shipping” these people and “shipping” those people. You know, “Who’s gonna hook up with so-and-so?” It’s not a reality show. It’s a television show based on emotion and the end of times and finding companionship. It’s not so much about who’s gonna bone who, or who needs a haircut. People are getting off the track here a little bit. [The characters] are just trying to find people who aren’t trying to kill them, who they can hang out with. They’re finding out who they are through other people. I get that all the time.
“It’s not a reality show…It’s not so much about who’s gonna bone who, or who needs a haircut.”