‘The Walking Dead’: Andrew Lincoln Pranked By Norman Reedus
Things are not good in the land of The Walking Dead: Negan, the much-hyped villain who has a baseball bat covered in barbed wire, has finally shown up and made his presence known by killing one — or more — of the group that is lovingly called ‘Team Family’ by fans. As it stands, Virginia — namely Alexandria — is on the verge of all out war with Negan and the Saviors, a cult that takes no resistance from anyone.
Heads, most likely, are about to start rolling so it’d make sense to think the set would be heavily filled with tears and anger as actors and friends say their final goodbye to the #TWDFamily. For some who have been on the show for a few seasons now and have gotten accustomed to the Georgia heat, the hunt for a new job could be starting quicker than expected as their character is killed off — likely in a way that’s going to upset the fandom.
Now, if you were to take a few days off from work or set part of their summer calendar for a trip to the set of The Walking Dead, you’d expect to see an actor wiping their eyes with tears or an actress’ face entirely reddened, right?
That is Andrew Lincoln, the show’s star as protagonist Rick Grimes, finding his Ford covered in confetti thanks to fellow co-star Norman Reedus. Listen closely and you’ll hear Reedus, the former star of Boondock Saints, laughing in the background while Lincoln just stares at the confetti falling.
What is easily the best part of the video, though, is Lincoln’s actual reaction when he finally opens his mouth.
“How much did you f**king put in here?”
“I’m not very good with directions. I was meeting the rest of the gang for this comedy thing in Atlanta, and I kept circling [the venue]. I couldn’t find it. And then Norman sent six cops to flag me down and escort me to the front. This was very nice of him, I thought, until they handcuffed me and took selfies and said it was Norman’s idea.”
The bromance between the two was even the main theme of an Entertainment Weekly photoshoot in July, 2015, as Entertainment Tonight’s Dalton Ross explained.
“It was really interesting getting that shot. At one point Andrew Lincoln starting laughing and said, ‘Norman, stop it.’… Norm was trying to hold his hand behind Melissa McBride’s back. They turned the photo around from the back and they grab each other’s butts. It really is a cool shot, because those guys are such friends on set.”
The relationship between Lincoln’s and Reedus’ characters, Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon, is easily the most recognizable between two characters of the same sex — and arguably of two characters of any sex, as Grimes and Dixon have gone from ‘frenemies’ early on in the show to Rick openly calling Daryl his brother at the end of season 4. Following the betrayal and death of Shane Walsh in season two, Daryl became Rick’s second-in-command and even became the unofficial leader of the group or a time in season three when Rick was unavailable.
Though the two didn’t get much screentime in Season 6 aside from “The Next World,” expect that to change in Season 7 as long as Dixon isn’t the one to die from Negan’s bat. Which, considering how loved both Daryl and Reedus are by the fanbase, most likely isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
The Season 7 trailer for The Walking Deadwill release on Friday at the San Diego Comic-Con and four actors have already been promoted to series regulars: Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan), Austin Amelio (Dwight), Xander Berkeley (Gregory), and Tom Payne (Paul “Jesus” Rovia) have gotten the boost, with Dean Morgan likely to join the starring cast when one — or two — actors get the boot after Negan gets rid of their characters.
Season 7 of The Walking Dead will return this October, hopefully with all of the Rick and Daryl moments that made the show so great in the past.
[Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for AMC]
