The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon showrunner breaks down episode 5's cameo

Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon episode 5. If you've yet to tune in and don't want to know what happens, turn back now.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon episode 5 reunites Norman Reedus's titular survivor with a familiar face – but not in the way you might think.

Way back in April 2022, AMC stated that Melissa McBride, who plays Carol Peletier in the hit zombie franchise, would no longer be fronting the spin-off alongside Reedus, due to the fact that it was filming overseas. Showrunner David Zabel evidently found a way around this, however, as Daryl talks to Carol over a radio in the show's latest installment. (Though it's worth noting that the scene is essentially a flashback and he's in Maine at the time, not France).

"We were always excited with any ways that we could kiss up to the legacy show, to the franchise, and to the history of the characters," Zabel recently told Entertainment Weekly. "This was obviously a very exciting way, because it was the first time in our show where he had actual real-life literal contact with the world that he was stranded from, and with ostensibly a character who's as close to him as anybody. So it was an exciting way to send out a life raft, so to speak, and connect him to what everybody knows about his past in the United States."

Set some time after the events of The Walking Dead season 11, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon sees the character get washed up on a beach in Marseille – and quickly tasked by a nun to ferry Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi), a young French boy believed to be some sort of super empathetic messiah, to a secret location in Northern France. Teaming up with Sister Isabelle (Clémence Poésy), Daryl accepts, setting him off on a perilous journey full of new burner zombies, a nefarious nightclub owner, and a power-hungry political leader.

During Daryl's brief chat with Carol in 'Deux Amours', the latter fills in the former as to how things are at home, and intriguingly mentions that someone "came back". It's all too easy to assume she could be talking about Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes, who's been separated from the group since season 9's dramatic midseason finale. But Zabel's comments suggest otherwise...

"It is important to what her ongoing story may be, and it is important in terms of what we were thinking is going on in Carol's world at that moment," he explained to the aforementioned publication. "It's also not what the audience expects or anticipates, if they're anticipating something. So it will ultimately prove to be surprising."

When asked whether fans can expect to see more of Carol in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon finale, a theory bolstered by the fact that she was spotted on set with Reedus back in June, Zabel remains tight-lipped, but he did cryptically add: "We love the character and we want to keep her in the world of the show."

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon airs on AMC and AMC+ in the US. For more, check out our handy guide on how to watch The Walking Dead franchise in order, or have a look at our list of the most exciting new TV shows heading our way.