In The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol, we’re reunited with the iconic Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) as he’s embedded himself with his newfound friends in France. By Season 2, he’s joined forces with Isabelle (Clémence Poésy), Sylvie (Laïka Blanc-Francard) Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi), and most recently Losang (Joel de la Fuente) and his flock at The Nest at Mont-Saint-Michel. Although he’s unaware of her journey, Carol (Melissa McBride) has been on a mission to find Daryl and in Season 2 we follow both characters as their stories run parallel. We spoke to Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride about Episodes 1 & 2, their hopes for their characters this season, and why Daryl and Carol have such a lasting bond.
Q: Season 1 of the show opened up The Walking Dead Universe in a way fans haven’t seen before. Not only were we back with one of our all-time favorite characters Daryl, but this time we also got to enjoy the tremendous beauty of France and see him in a whole new light. With Season 2 bringing back our favorite inconspicuous badass Carol, fans are losing their minds! What was it like to be reunited in France and be directed by Greg Nicotero again for Episode 1? 
Norman Reedus: Greg's been the heart of the show since the very beginning. He was the first producer I met on set, ever, on the very first episode I was in. He was sitting in a van as a zombie, talking to me. I was like, "What's wrong with this guy?" I was thinking, "Where am I? And how did this happen?" And he goes, "Yeah, hi. I'm Greg." But his face was rotting off. [Laughs]
He's been here since day one, he was here before all of us were even hired, and he knows the flavor of the show. To have him come from America to France was the best. We were doing a completely different show here obviously, but to have his knowledge and expertise and just his smiling face there was a real joy!
Melissa McBride: I agree! It was a very similar experience for me. It was just such a warm, comfortable welcome for me joining something that was already started. It felt really good. It felt great to be together again with those two!
Q: You both serve as Executive Producers on the show so your scope here isn’t just as actors but also as part of the creative crew that really envisions the show. Can you talk a bit about how you wanted Season 2 to look for your characters. Were there things you really wanted to see from Daryl and Carol this season? 
MM: For myself and for Carol, David [Zabel, showrunner] and I talked a lot about some of the internal struggles she may be having and things that I would like for her to revisit. That's important to me, and important for that character.
NR: Back in Georgia, we had such a big cast that a lot of times, character development didn't get to go full circle for everybody unless your character died. So, it's nice to have that special time given to individual characters.
There were some things that I wanted to do differently this season. Well maybe not differently, but let’s say some new things that I wanted to explore, and a lot of that came from what I learned from different characters throughout the years. Asking questions like, "What would Hershel do right now? What would Rick do right now?" instead of asking, "What would Daryl do?" all the time.
Q: Children have always had an important place in The Walking Dead Universe, but some interesting developments have happened in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Daryl is more than just a protector now, his friendship with Laurent runs deep and it’s clear that they really love each other. For Carol this season, the trauma of losing Sophia has resurfaced and haunts her on her journey to find Daryl. Daryl and Carol are fractured characters who have been through so much loss — is love what really propels them and binds them together? 
MM: I think it must be! And it's not just that as characters they had a similar beginning. For them it really comes down to love and its trust. It's an emotional bond, the bond of survival, and just the strangeness of surviving in this weird world together. It's their shared experience. It's a lot of things!
NR: I have to agree with all of that. And one of the things I really like about those two characters is that they've earned it. You know what I mean? They've been there since the very beginning, when the story was really about Rick, his wife, his best friend, and his kid, Daryl and Carol were kind of in the background. They were always watching each other, making sure the other person was okay. And we've had all these years of them together. It's a real, earned relationship.
Q: As Episode 2 winds down it’s clear that all is not right at The Nest. Meanwhile Genet is torturing Codron and Carol has made her way into Pouvoir. So much has already happened BUT we can’t forget that Daryl and Isabelle finally had their first kiss too towards the end of Ep 2 too! What can you tease out about the rest of the season, because boy is it jam-packed! 
NR: Yeah, it all kind of comes to a climax. It starts in first gear, and it goes second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and then boom — it explodes! It just gets faster and faster and more complicated and more violent and more romantic and more heroic. It goes straight uphill and then it jumps off a cliff. [Laughs] It just gets crazy towards the end! Melissa, help me out. It’s hard to know what to say without spoiling anything!
MM: We're looking forward to a greater conflict between these two groups, and we’re going to dive into that. Carol has landed in enemy territory. Truly, the season is so packed, and yet, at the same time, it does feel like it takes a breath. I don't know if that's the landscape helping that out. It doesn't feel like it's so packed you can't follow it. It's great writing, beautiful cinematography, and it tells a really interesting, compelling story and it breathes all at the same time. It also gives what I think fans want to see.
NR: It really draws you in, too. It's different than what we used to do. So much of it was like bang, bang, bang, bang! Action after action after action! But like Melissa just said, this feels like it flows effortlessly. It's really good storytelling and it has that European cinema quality to it.
MM: It does. I think about spoilers, and I think some about some of these key things that will happen the rest of the season… I can't say that they're not going to find each other. The spoilers are really in the details of how we get from one place to another, from one moment to another.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol airs on Sundays at 9/8c on AMC. Episodes are available to stream on amc.com (with a cable provider login), and the AMC apps for mobile and devices. You can also watch episodes via AMC+ at amcplus.com or through the new AMC+ app available on iPhone, iPad, Android, Fire TV, Apple TV, and Roku plus Samsung and Vizio smart TVs. AMC+ can also be streamed through a variety of providers, including AppleTV, Prime Video Channels, DirectTV, Dish, Roku Channel, Sling, and Xfinity. Sign up for AMC+ now.