Rick Cameo, Time Jump, Deaths

Something terrible happens to Daryl.

Jace Downs/AMC

I’m most curious about how Daryl will wind up on a “TWD” spin-off in Paris, France.

I initially had a few ideas. Daryl would be hit so hard by some loss on the series finale (Judith?) that he goes off on his own as he did after he thought Rick died.

My second thought was that Daryl learns that Rick’s alive and he sets off on a journey to find him. 

Another thought was that Daryl and the group catch wind of a possible cure for the dead.

On the show’s first season, Dr. Jenner briefly mentioned that the whole zombie apocalypse may have started in France. Jenner popped up again on the series finale of 2021’s “TWD: World Beyond” and we started to get a hint of the variant walkers we’re now seeing on “The Walking Dead.” That show’s end-credits scene also mentioned Toledo, Ohio.

The Commonwealth group is located in Ohio.

Maybe something about the variant walkers sends Daryl on a journey. It would be an interesting way for the show to tie back to season one.

However, the final few episodes have led me in another, less exciting, direction. 

In October, while discussing how he winds up in Paris on his spin-off, Norman Reedus told Jimmy Kimmel, “I get put there. I don’t go there on my free will.”

That certainly has me wondering whether or not Daryl will get kidnapped by someone and get shipped overseas. 

A few episodes back, Daryl learned about something called “Designation Two,” a label given to Commonwealth prisoners who are “taken somewhere far away” and are never seen again. 

Maybe that’s where Daryl’s heading by the finale’s end. At the least, I hope it ties in with some of 2021’s “World Beyond” coda for a greater universe payoff.