The Special Gifts Norman Reedus Gave The Walking Dead Cast On The Final Day
There's no denying that "The Walking Dead" turned out to be a massive hit for AMC. After all, the globally-recognized series has extended to a whopping 11 seasons and has served as the launchpad for a wider small screen universe that shows no sign of ending any time soon. Not to mention, it has one of the most devoted fanbases in the television world, and many of its members have stuck by the show through thick and thin. Sadly for them, though, "The Walking Dead" had to reach its end eventually.
As announced back in September of 2020, the 11th season of "The Walking Dead" would be the last, signaling the true end of a TV era. While that news hit fans around the world hard, the cast of the show itself felt the weight of this announcement tenfold. For a program that's been on the air as long as it has with such a large cast in tow, one could imagine that the troupe of actors and crew members became like family. Therefore, coming to terms with saying goodbye couldn't have been easy for anyone.
Despite the heart-wrenching nature of the situation, Norman Reedus — one of the few actors who has stuck around from Season 1 to Season 11 — got creative with his farewell to "The Walking Dead" and his co-stars. Here are the special gifts the man behind Daryl Dixon gave out on the final day of filming.
Reedus hand-made knives for his co-stars
On May 17, 2022, Norman Reedus spoke to People about the conclusion of "The Walking Dead." After spending nearly a decade and a half of his life as Daryl Dixon, he admits that leaving the show was incredibly emotional. To commemorate the last day of the Season 11 shoot, he nervously gave a speech and goodbye gifts in the form of handmade knives he created. "It was sad and bittersweet," Reedus added, noting that he's going to miss a lot of the cast and crew and that, oddly enough, it didn't occur to him until he got home that night that his work on "The Walking Dead" was well and truly over.
Norman Reedus might be done on "The Walking Dead," but his time within the show's universe isn't over yet. Around the same time word broke that "TWD" was on its way out, it came to light that a spin-off about Daryl and fellow fan-favorite Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) was on its way down the production pipeline. However, that concept hit a major roadblock in April of 2022 when McBride bowed out due to her inability to relocate to Europe for the duration of filming (via Entertainment Weekly). Thus, unless AMC changes its mind about the whole project, Daryl will fly solo.
Daryl Dixon will endure in pop culture as one of the faces of "The Walking Dead," and by going out of his way to do such kind things as hand-making wrap gifts for everyone, it stands to reason he'll endure in the minds of his colleagues, too.