‘Walking Dead’ Star Melissa McBride Exits Carol-Daryl Spinoff Series at AMC

UPDATED: Melissa McBride is no longer going to star in a Daryl-Carol “Walking Dead” spinoff at AMC, Variety has confirmed.

The show was originally announced in September 2020 with McBride and Norman Reedus set to star. The pair have long been praised for their characters’ onscreen chemistry, with Reedus and McBride currently being the only two cast members of the flagship show who have been onboard since Season 1. The spinoff will now focus solely on Daryl.

“Melissa McBride has given life to one of the most interesting, real, human and popular characters in ‘The Walking Dead’ Universe,” AMC said in a statement. “Unfortunately, she is no longer able to participate in the previously announced spin-off focused on the Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier characters, which will be set and filmed in Europe this summer and premiere next year. Relocating to Europe became logistically untenable for Melissa at this time. We know fans will be disappointed by this news, but ‘The Walking Dead’ Universe continues to grow and expand in interesting ways and we very much hope to see Carol again in the near future.”

The spinoff is co-created by “The Walking Dead” showrunner Angela Kang and Scott Gimple, former series showrunner and the chief content officer of “The Walking Dead” universe. Kang will also serve as showrunner on the spinoff. The series is slated to debut in 2023.

The show is one of several “Walking Dead” shows currently in the works at AMC. There is also a spinoff focused on Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) on the way as well as the episodic anthology series “Tales of the Walking Dead.” “Fear the Walking Dead” recently wrapped up its seventh season, while “The Walking Dead” concluded the second of three planned eight-episode segments that will bring the series to a close.

There are also the long-gestating movie spinoffs starring Andrew Lincoln, who exited “The Walking Dead” after nine seasons back in 2018. The films were originally meant to start production shortly after Lincoln’s departure from the show, but at this time they remain in development.

TVLine first reported McBride’s exit.

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