Daryl Dixon from The Daryl Dixon's Spinoff

As a spinoff, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon raises the question of whether it can be watched and understood without completing the flagship series. Not long after The Walking Dead concluded with season 11, the franchise released Daryl Dixon – its fifth spinoff and sixth show overall. In it, long-time original series regular Norman Reedus reprises his role as Daryl in a premise set twelve years into the apocalypse (and one year following the events of The Walking Dead). The spinoff finally gives Reedus a character-focused platform to stand on, extending past the rich history the franchise already established for him.

Reedus has appeared in nearly 150 episodes across all 11 seasons of The Walking Dead, which afforded an abundance of opportunity to develop Daryl’s pre- and post-apocalyptic life. For viewers who, at some point, fell off of The Walking Dead or started watching the franchise late in the game, the sheer amount of original series canon can seem daunting, especially in the case of Daryl. Concerning the Daryl Dixon spinoff, The Walking Dead franchise prepared to cater to new and returning viewers. However, whether the spinoff is viewable as a standalone is more complicated than a simple yes or no.

Daryl Dixon Season 1 Can Be Watched Without Finishing The Walking Dead

Daryl Dixon’s Story Supports Itself

Norman Reedus as Daryl aiming a gun in a scene from The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon

Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), Isabelle Carriere (Clémence Poésy), and Laurent Carriere (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) avoid variant walkers on The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon

Daryl Dixon’s foreign setting essentially serves as a new beginning for Reedus’ character, where he embarks on a journey that’s in continuity with The Walking Dead but isolated from the flagship series’ major players.

Daryl Dixon can be watched without finishing The Walking Dead, as its story supports itself. The spinoff finds Daryl washed ashore in France, the birthplace of The Walking Dead zombie outbreak, and follows him as he struggles to uncover how he got there, why, and a way to get home. Daryl Dixon’s foreign setting essentially serves as a new beginning for Reedus’ character, where he embarks on a journey that’s in continuity with The Walking Dead but isolated from the flagship series’ major players. Barring Daryl and a massive The Walking Dead cameo, Daryl Dixon consisted of all new characters.

Daryl Dixon comprises a cast of never-before-seen comrades and antagonists whose stories begin and develop within the series. Consequently, Daryl treads an unfamiliar landscape torn by conflicting autocratic and religious movements and decides which side to fight on, all by his lonesome. Daryl’s isolated journey positions season 1 of the Daryl Dixon spinoff to be viewed and understood as a standalone series; however, without having watched The Walking Dead, it’s impossible to enjoy all the spinoff has to offer within the overarching franchise and its premise may become more difficult to follow in future Daryl Dixon seasons.

Daryl Dixon Will Make More Sense If You’ve Completed The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead Enhances The Daryl Dixon Viewing Experience

Norman Reedus as Daryl looking at Melissa McBride as Carol in The Walking Dead

By itself, Daryl Dixon’s story arc is easy enough to digest, but that doesn’t mean that Daryl’s The Walking Dead narrative should be so quickly overlooked. In fact, Daryl’s The Walking Dead narrative adds much-needed depth to the spinoff in the new relationships he forges and in the life-altering decisions or sacrifices he makes while finding a way home from France. Even more, Daryl’s history provides gratifying context to various references and details incorporated within the spinoff, making for an all-around better viewing experience of the character and the overarching Walking Dead universe.

Knowing Daryl’s story is also essential, seeing as Daryl Dixon will only get more intricate and complicated as more seasons are released. Daryl Dixon season 2 already has big plans to introduce a prominent Walking Dead figure into the fold. With little context as to who they are or how much they mean to Daryl, viewers could have trouble connecting to season 2’s story. Ultimately, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is an effective reentry point into the franchise – but new and intermittent audience members would do well to catch up on The Walking Dead before its second season premieres.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol premieres on September 29.