When Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) washed onto the shores of France in the first season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, he needed kindness to survive and if possible, make it back across the Atlantic to the Commonwealth and those he left behind. The show’s second season, The Book of Carol, finally saw a highly anticipated reunion between Daryl and Carol (Melissa McBride) materialize onscreen in Season 2, Episode 4, “La Paradis Pour Toi.” However, while the title character was joyful on the one hand, Daryl was cruelly afflicted when Sister Isabelle was killed.

A deep blow for Daryl, audiences will remember Sister Isabelle (Clémence Poésy) helping nurse the title character back to health after he washed up on European soil. Since their fated encounter, the pair have become close travel companions with the occasional whiff of romantic chemistry. “I was really sad to see [Clémence Poésy] go, because I really liked her,” Reedus said to TVLine in a recent conversation. “She brought a certain quality to the show that was very valuable. She’s a great actress and has really good ideas. I watched her go from Episode 1 to where she went in this season, and her character changed so much. Isabelle was great.”

Protecting young Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) had been the basis of the close bond shared between Daryl and Isabelle. The trials of helping the presumed Messiah escape Paris and bringing him to the Nest had brought the pair close. However, Daryl’s grief will have to wait as he needs to protect Laurent, who is Isabelle’s nephew, from the crackheads at the Nest led by Joel de la Fuente‘s Losang. “There are so many different levels of what the f—k, like back-to-back-to-back-to-back, in a short period of time,” Reedus explains. Isabelle’s “whole mission is about Laurent and protecting this child, so that has a lot to do with Daryl wanting to make sure that he’s safe.”

A Jettisoned Romance for Daryl and Isabelle

The loss of Isabelle is undeniably a deep blow for Daryl, and “there are certain things that need to be processed as soon as we get out of here, or as soon as this fight is over and we’re safe.” Given how key Isabelle has been to the story so far, it is slightly surprising that the character has been killed off. Adding to the depth of grief Daryl is going to have to process was the burgeoning romance between the pair, emphasized by that kiss. It is a relationship that showed promise, and one that would have aided Daryl to, for a time at least, stop running. Speaking about the pair previuosly, Poésy explained, “I think it’s a little bit more than just that. Daryl’s been fighting his entire life, running his entire adult life. So he’s never really had that opportunity [to dabble in romance], you know?”

Viewers can watch Daryl and Carol’s relationship unfold on AMC+ and every week on Sundays at 9 pm EST.