‘The Walking Dead’ season 5: Robert Kirkman on Norman Reedus, Daryl Dixon character

Norman Reedus fans, rejoice! Robert Kirkman really likes Daryl Dixon on “The Walking Dead.” Seriously. He likes the guy so much that he is one of his favorite characters on the entire series.

Kirkman is appearing on Friday’s new episode of “The Writers Room” on Sundance, a delightful show hosted by the delightful Jim Rash of “Community” fame. Kirkman tells him first and foremost the story about how Reedus ended up being cast, and how the show created a brother for Merle just to ensure that he would have a part to play:

“Daryl Dixon is my favorite element of the television show. And when we saw Norman Reedus, all of the producers kind of got together, and we were like, ‘We love this guy. We’ve got to get him in the show somehow.,’ and so suddenly, Merle had a brother named Daryl.”

Kirkman also jokes in the video that there are many occasions in which Reedus approached him and asked how he was doing, mostly because there’s a lot of job insecurity in this character. Everyone else on the show at least has the knowledge of whether or not their characters make it to see another day. Meanwhile, he is left completely in the dark. It could be scary, more so even than a fictional character having to kill off a ton of zombies.

Our prediction? Daryl’s not going anywhere in the near future. While nobody on this show is safe from dying, he and Rick are going to be the hardest two characters to kill off thanks to both fan sentiment and also the role that they play in the overall narrative.

“The Walking Dead” season 5 premieres on AMC this fall, and per star Chandler Riggs, the cast has yet to see scripts for it just yet. It’s a shame, but hopefully that comes soon!

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Photo: AMC