The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is one of three spin-offs of The Walking Dead to launch following the end of the original series: it’s joined by The Walking Dead: Dead City and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Centered around fan-favorite character Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and, for Season 2, another fan favorite, Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride), the post-apocalyptic horror drama has an entirely different setting. The show is set in Paris, France, thousands of miles from where Daryl was last seen in The Walking Dead.

Before the series released its first season in September 2023, one question on every fan’s mind was how Daryl got to France. Without planes, there’s only one logical option: the water. This is indeed how he arrived, but the other big question fans have is why.

Daryl’s Journey From America to France

When Daryl was last seen in The Walking Dead, he traveled among various communities and lived as a nomad. He went out on his own to do various missions but always returned. When The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon begins, he’s already washing up in France. Fans learn how he got there in bits and pieces.

At the end of the pilot episode, fans see Daryl as a prisoner aboard a ship transporting walkers from America to be used as test subject walker variants. He manages to start a revolt, fight back, destroy the research, and escape. This explains why they were after him in the beginning. Being chased led to him going on the run and ending up at a convent, which was later attacked. Still, fans aren’t clear why he was on that boat with the test subjects in the first place. All he tells Isabelle (Clémence Poésy), the friendly nun who saved his life and nursed him back to health, is that he got there after a “series of bad decisions.”

It’s not until Episode 5 that fans get the full context. While on one of his many exploratory missions, Daryl finds himself in Maine, New England, about a 13-day walk from Virginia, where the other colonies exist. It’s much quicker via motorcycle, of course, which is typically Daryl’s mode of transportation.

Indeed, that’s how he traveled there, as he’s seen working for a group capturing walkers in exchange for fuel to get back home. He contacts Carol to check in, and her voice is heard on the other end of a radio, but their call is muffled and cut short. Daryl witnesses a bully named Juno (John Ales) murder a young man in cold blood and then try to cover it up. Daryl had been mentoring the young man who was just trying to get back to his family, and he was outraged that the man’s life was cut short.

Daryl’s outburst, however, gets him and Juno in hot water, and they are forced onto a ship called Pouvoir (“power”). The ship sets sail to an unknown location, and Daryl has no way to escape. After sailing for some time, Daryl and Juno decide to work together to set up an escape plan. Daryl pretends to vomit to be let out of his cell, then overtakes the guard and releases all the walkers. Juno is ravaged by a walker before he can catch up, and to avoid becoming zombie food as well, Daryl jumps off the ship just as a part of it explodes. It’s presumed that he’s close enough to shore at this point to swim or at least float to dry land with the help of something buoyant, where he eventually washes up.

Is Daryl Still in France, And Will He Stay?

At the end of the first season, Daryl succeeds in his mission of getting Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) to a safe zone known as The Nest, which, as it turns out, is Mont-Saint-Michel, a tidal island and mainland community in Normandy. Daryl settles in and is welcomed by the leader to stay permanently. But eventually, he starts to miss home. He decides to leave and says his goodbyes.

As Daryl heads back to the water to travel on a boat provided for him by his new friends, he stops and comes across a cemetery, where he searches frantically until he finds his grandfather’s grave. He gets emotional, recalling stories of how his grandfather left to fight in the war. He is also torn by the nagging feeling that he is leaving Laurent high and dry, just as his father did him (and his grandfather did his father).

Just as he’s in the throes of emotion, Laurent appears at the top of a mountain. The young boy followed him, hoping to convince Daryl to stay. Meanwhile, a herd of walkers are coming closer and closer. Daryl smiles. In the trailer for Season 2, Daryl’s decision is made clear: he’s still living with Isabelle, Laurent, and the others. Isabelle talks to him about how different scenery can help change your perspective on things, but Daryl is also seen suggesting to Laurent that the three of them might be going to America. “I don’t know if this is the place I’m supposed to be,” Daryl is heard narrating, “thinking of all the people I left behind, wondering if they’re still thinking about me.”

Based on the final episode post-credits scene, at the same time that this is happening, Carol travels to Maine, the last place she knew Daryl was. Since he hasn’t checked in this entire time, she’s getting worried. Her resourcefulness will lead her to the information that he was placed aboard a ship heading to France. A new character appears to help Carol get to where she needs to be. He asks her if she would give up everything for someone she hasn’t met. “If there was hope of finding them alive,” she answers, “yes.” He appears to have access to a plane, and as it’s seen landing in what can only be assumed to be France, Carol is undoubtedly ready to wreak havoc on anyone who gets in her way. The final scene shows a blurred Carol walking towards Daryl, his back to her, all but confirming a sweet reunion.

Will Daryl stay in France, even if he realizes Carol traveled all that way to get him? One small but crucial detail to note is that when Daryl calls Carol on the radio in Episode 5, she is heard saying that someone came back. Based on timelines, it’s suspected that she could be referring to Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira), two people who would surely have Daryl springing to action to find the fastest way home.

This gives fans hope that the finale of this season, perhaps even the already confirmed third, could show a reunion between the best friends who have been separated for so long. Daryl was never the same after he thought Rick had died. Knowing that the man he calls brother is still alive will arguably spark the most emotion fans have ever seen from the character to date. With Reedus describing the Season 2 finale of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon as the “best one-hour Walking Dead ever,” fans are hopeful this could happen.

But even if Daryl makes it back home, he’ll likely come with others in tow. He probably won’t stay long, but he will revel in the knowledge that he’s loved and thought about and his friends, new and old, are okay. Regardless of what happens in the future, how and why Daryl arrived in France is not nearly as important as what happens while he’s there. Stream The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 1 on Netflix and stream Season 2 on AMC+ starting September 29, 2024.