‘The Walking Dead’: Was Daryl Dixon In Love With Carol Or Beth?
The Walking Dead’s toughest character, Daryl Dixon, has risen to iconic status with his crossbow and quiet intensity. While Daryl (Norman Reedus) may have inspired a pop culture phenomenon, fans have long been wondering why the guy can’t get lucky in love in the zombie apocalypse. There has been plenty of emotional bonding with Carol (Melissa McBride) and with Beth (Emily Kinney), but who was Daryl really in love with (spoiler alert) before Beth’s untimely demise in The Walking Dead mid-season finale?
During a recent Reddit chat, Reedus answered fans’ questions about The Walking Dead, and Beth in particular. When asked directly if there might have been a chance of Beth and Daryl getting romantic, Reedus confirmed that “there was definitely a taste of it in the air.”
But the question was answered more definitively during a Yahoo! News interview in November, when Reedus talked about how Beth inspired hope in his Walking Dead character that there might still be good in the world. That quality cemented their bond during their time together, after their prison home fell to The Governor in the last season of The Walking Dead.
Beth fought to earn Daryl’s respect as a survivor, and charmed him with her ability to see goodness and hope in The Walking Dead’s post-zombie apocalypse. He seemed to really warm to her after she sang for him, but then Beth was kidnapped before the Daryl and Beth hookup had a chance to happen.
For those of you who are #TeamBeth, here’s a fan-made montage of Beth and Daryl.
On the other hand, Carol is more of a kindred spirit to Daryl. Walking Dead fans first wanted to see Daryl and Carol get together, due to the special bond they’ve shared coming from difficult home lives and Daryl’s kindness to Carol after her daughter died.
Carol and Daryl had an emotional reunion after she busted the whole gang out of Terminus in The Walking Dead season premiere that was short on dialogue but very moving. Ironically, when the pair were attempting to rescue Beth from her hospital captivity, Carol was hit by a car and taken there herself, interrupting any potential hookups now that the two have found each other again.
But when push comes to shove, if Beth were still alive and Reedus had to choose one or the other, it looks like he’d go with Carol, as that’s the girl his mom would choose. He shared a personal text from Mom singing her praises, and confirmed that Carol would have his mother’s vote for his best match on The Walking Dead.
“She’s a very colorful badass,” Reedus told Yahoo! News “And I feel like she probably sees herself in Carol a little bit, you know, a fighter who gets things done. That would be Mom’s hero on the show.”
While we know how Mom feels about her son’s potential fictional girlfriends, rumors abound that Reedus has recently become available again after dating Cecilia Singley all year. So if you’re thinking of trying to become Norman Reedus’ new squeeze, just don’t expect him to go around with his manly crossbow being the tough guys he plays on The Walking Dead. When asked during the Reddit chat what he wanted for Christmas, his real persona was considerably tamer than his alter ego.
“[A] movie marathon in bed with a mountain of chocolate in a panda bear onesie.”
So who do you think would have been a better match for Daryl Dixon on The Walking Dead?
[Photos via AMC Press Site, by Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC]
