There’s a new member of the “If Daryl dies, we riot” fan club: The Walking Dead‘s Norman Reedus.
That’s right, Daryl himself is officially on team #Daryllives in light of the season six finale cliffhanger that teased a core character’s death. Sure, we’ve got a long wait until we find out just who Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the role that will forever haunt our nightmares) kills with Lucille, his bat covered in barbed wire. But according to Reedus, who spoke with Variety about his new AMC travel series Ride With Norman Reedus, the conclusion to that cliffhanger will be satisfying.
“Everyone’s excited for [season] seven to reveal the answers to [season] six,” Reedus says. “So I will say it’s well worth the wait. You know what I mean? I know what happens, and we shot it, and it’s well worth the wait. Trust me.”
When asked about the fan-favorite slogan that viewers have championed for years—”If Daryl dies, we riot”—and if it had anything to do with the deadly cliffhanger’s resolution, Reedus decided to join the cause.
“I will be passing out matches if that happens — I will be starting the riot,” Reedus says. “You know what, I’m very appreciative. I put a lot of work into this character for a long time, and I really like my job, and I like all the people I work with an awful lot, and I like all those fans that have my back, and I have their back, and I’m trying to do a good job for them as well. So it’s one big family that I’m proud to be part of.”
Daryl Dixon fans will definitely want to tune into Reedus’ new AMC show, which finds The Walking Dead star traveling around on a motorcycle (both Reedus and Daryl’s vehicle of choice) exploring biker culture and celebrating some of the best and brightest collectors, mechanics and motorcycle craftsmen around the country. Ride with Norman Reedus will allow Reedus to dive deep into his passion for motorcycles, and each episode starts in a new city with Reedus and his riding companion for the week (like Peter Fonda, Robert Rodriguez and Balthazar Getty). Reedus, his companion and viewers will get to explore the local sights and share in their motorcycle/bike passion.
“This isn’t scripted television. I mean, it’s really not scripted television,” Reedus says. “I know there’s ‘unscripted’ television, which is really scripted, but ours is really unscripted. So they learn things about me, and I learn things about them, and we go into a town, and you meet people. You’ll meet an old couple that have been traveling for months on a motorcycle who are in their late 60s, early 70s, and you hear their stories, and you’re like, ‘Wow, I want to be you one day.’ There’s a whole bunch of eye-opening little things that happen here and there.”
And since Reedus has such a massive fanbase thanks to The Walking Dead, a couple of fan encounters actually made it onto the show.
“That happened everywhere we went, and we couldn’t make every episode have tons of that because it would’ve just been that,” Reedus says. “But that’s part of a road trip — you meet new people for whatever reason, whether it’s an interest in the show, or an interest in motorcycles, or they like your helmet, or you’re eating at the same restaurant. You meet them, so we incorporate it in the show, and you go to a biking event, it’s full of people, and they all have cameras, and everyone’s geeking on things, and then the camera crew shows up, and they go, ‘Oh my God, you’re the dude on the thing,’ and then you end up with a crowd. We incorporated some of the crowd.”
So grab your pitchfork and your torch, ladies and gents, because if Daryl ends up dying in the season seven premiere of The Walking Dead, Reedus is going to lead the charge. And he’s already got the numbers to do some serious damage.
Ride with Norman Reedus premieres Sunday, June 12 at 10 p.m. on AMC, and The Walking Dead season seven will return in October.
Images: AMC
