With Daryl locked away in a cell, Dwight’s free to parade around with Daryl’s vest and crossbow, something that drives Norman Reedus nuts on set.
Daryl Dixon has always been the wild card on The Walking Dead. Not only because he’s a bit of a loose cannon either. Despite his popularity, Daryl doesn’t exist in the comic books. So even though fans may have an idea of what’s going to happen on the show, we never really know about Daryl.
Recently, Daryl’s been sharing a lot of scenes with Dwight. Creator Robert Kirkman came up with the character of Dwight after the show had started. Even though he’s a villain, he was partly inspired by Daryl. So it’s interesting to see the two characters come together. It seems like there’s something they see in each other.
Through the Looking Glass
Image Credit: AMC
“I don’t think [Daryl] sees himself in Dwight, but I think Dwight sees Daryl in him — or hopes to see him in him,” says actor Norman Reedus. “When Daryl and Dwight first met, Dwight was a good guy trying to escape. He was trying to protect two people. People do crazy things out of fear. I know that he regrets a lot of his decisions. It kind of validates Dwight if Daryl will just say he’s Negan and Daryl sees that, and Daryl won’t do it. Daryl’s not Dwight. There is a sort of bizarro thing going on here, but they’re two totally different people.”
Doppelganger
Not only do Dwight and Daryl have similar personalities, but Dwight has started mimicking him. He stole Daryl’s motorcycle, his crossbow, and he’s even wearing his vest. Reedus says filming those scenes tend to get under his skin. “I’ve got to say, it is very hard for me to watch that happen,” he says, laughing. “That’s my vest! That’s my crossbow! You know what I mean? You see all these specials that they’ll show us of throughout the years, and I’m like, “There’s me and my vest. There’s me and my crossbow. There’s me and my vest. There’s me and my crossbow.”
“I’m talking to our showrunner and I’m like, “When do I get my stuff!” and he’s like, “You’re not just your vest and your crossbow.” [laughs] And I’m like, “Yeah, but it’s my stuff! Give it to me!” He’s like, “You’re not just that. Batman’s not just his Batmobile.” And I’m like, “Give me my junk back.” It’s very hard on set to watch somebody walking around in my stuff. It’s very upsetting to me.”
Dog Eat Dog
Two parts of Daryl’s torture were particularly unsettling. One was that terrible “Easy Street” song. The other were those dog food sandwiches. “It was like spam stuff, but with stuff in it, and it was on these rock hard rolls,” says Reedus. “It was just gross. Yeah, it’s disgusting. It tastes like what I imagine dog food would taste like.”
Image Credit: AMC
