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Sunday, September 29th at 9 p.m. ET on AMC and AMC+ can’t come soon enough for fans of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Norman Reedus will return to his titular role of Daryl Dixon in the coming season, where he will be reunited with Melissa McBride‘s Carol in a season titled, The Book of Carol. A zombie-riddled franchise in the main, the first season of Daryl Dixon shook things up with the story moving to Europe. While retaining its apocalyptic flavor, the series brought Daryl into conflict with the Pouvoir, a tussle he’d ultimately triumph in – at least for now. Looking ahead, showrunner David Zabel has teased what Daryl’s new conflict is going to be in Season 2.

The Pouvoir were an extremist group Daryl had to confront in Season 1, and now Zabel reveals that the titular character will also have to deal with extremism in his new home, the Nest. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the showrunner revealed that Daryl wouldn’t want Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi), the young boy around whom much of the first season revolved, to become entirely conditioned to the nature of Losang (Joel de la Fuente) and the people of the Nest. Zabel’s comments read:

“The totality of the story is that extremism is bad, and any version of extremism is dangerous. Genet [and the Pouvoir] is a certain kind of extremism, and without giving too much away, Losang and the Nest represent a different kind of seemingly benevolent extremism. Daryl is by nature a doubter in a healthy way. He’s a skeptic, a person who doesn’t believe in group think or systemic ways of living. And the Nest represents something to him that he’s a little skeptical about.”

The Bond Remains Strong

Melissa McBride on a motorcycle in Daryl Dixon Season 2 - The Book of Carol
Image via AMC

Within the bowels of a broken and shattered Paris, Daryl and his new allies, led by Clémence Poésy as Isabelle, battled against the Pouvoir, led by Marion Genet (Anne Charrier). Genet’s attack dog for much of the first season was the villainous Stéphane Codron (Romain Levi), who sought to find Laurent and bring the boy before Genet and the Pouvoir. While Daryl strived to keep the extremist group at bay, the task brought fostered close bonds with his new-found family, with Laurent’s presence on the beach in the season finale able to keep him from returning across the pond. Zabel confirms that this bond will persist, saying:

“It’s very personal for Daryl. He doesn’t really care about the ideas or the concepts as much as he cares about this little boy [Laurent] who’s being pulled in one direction, and he doesn’t think that’s the best thing for him.”

At some point in the coming season, Daryl and Carol will be reunited, but this might not be after she has survived some ordeal as she crosses the Atlantic in search of her friend in France. However, in the aftermath of their reunion and confrontations with the Pouvoir and the Nest, Daryl and Carol seem set to continue their journey further into Europe – with Spain the next location.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon will premiere on Sunday, September 29th at 9 p.m. ET on AMC and AMC+. The first season is streaming now on AMC+. Stay tuned to Collider for more information.