Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Episode 4 of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of CarolThe first season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon was a nice departure from the past, as it took Daryl (Norman Reedus) away from the Commonwealth in the United States and sent him to an unfamiliar land half a world away in France. It took our coolest walker killer and made him a fish out of water in a fresh story. Still, Daryl’s just not the same without Carol (Melissa McBride), so thankfully, Season 2 added the title of The Book of Carol, with her setting off to France to find Daryl and bring him home. There’s just one problem: maybe she shouldn’t. The Commonwealth has been done to death, but France opens up so many opportunities for new stories.

Carol Is Ready To Take Daryl Home to the Commonwealth

In Season 2 of Daryl Dixon, Daryl talked with Isabelle (Clémence Poésy) about her going home with him to Ohio to live together. They’ll get Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) away from Losang (Joel de la Fuente) and the Union, and take him to America where he can just be a kid around other kids like Judith. Daryl tells Isabelle what Ohio is like, but sadly, those dreams are dashed, as she is later stabbed to death by Losang in one of the biggest twists of the episode.

Isabelle will never see the Commonwealth, but that doesn’t mean that Daryl and Laurent still can’t. In Episode 4, Daryl and Carol are finally reunited, but they have zero time to celebrate, as Daryl is desperate to find Laurent and save him before it’s too late. During their search, Carol tells Daryl about how she came to France on a plane and can take him home. She wants Laurent to come, too, but Daryl isn’t so sure. He grew very close to both France and Laurent, serving as a father figure to the latter. At this point, it really doesn’t seem like Daryl is willing to budge from France. However, by the end of the episode, Daryl suddenly smiles at the thought of bringing Laurent to the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth Has Been Part of ‘The Walking Dead’ for Too Long

When The Walking Dead began in 2010, our heroes were centered around Atlanta, Georgia. In the last few seasons, the story moved into the Commonwealth, located in Ohio. It was its own walled-in city with some semblance of a return to normalcy of the days before the zombie apocalypse, but like with everywhere else, the corrupt leaders ruined it, leading to the residents rising up to take it back.

The Walking Dead has never been about the location (or even the walkers for that matter), but instead, the characters. It didn’t matter if a season took place around Atlanta, within the confines of a prison, or in the Commonwealth, as long as the characters remained ones that we cared about. We wanted to see Rick (Andrew Lincoln) save the day, we wanted to see Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) in love (which is why so many tuned out when Glenn was killed off), and we wanted to see the best friendship between Carol and Daryl.

Frankly, there’s no nostalgia for the Commonwealth. It’s simply a setting for the last few seasons of the original series during a time when many viewers had already given up and stopped watching. Other spin-offs of The Walking Dead knew this. That’s why The Walking Dead: Dead City had Maggie and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in New York City, and that’s why, in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, Michonne (Danai Gurira) had to leave the Commonwealth behind for the entire season. It wasn’t until the very end that Rick and Michonne got back there, but even then, it was Rick being reunited with his children that mattered, not the location.

Carol and Daryl Need To Stay in France With Laurent

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon should take the same approach. We care about Daryl and Carol being together because of how much they care for each other, and because of their chemistry. Even if you don’t think Carol and Daryl should become a couple, seeing these two interact is what we care about, and keeping them in France just makes their decades-long friendship that much more interesting.

Daryl and Carol could go back to the Commonwealth, but then what? They’re back in the same old place with the same old people telling the same old stories. The Walking Dead universe has had an exciting shakeup by taking the action across the Atlantic Ocean and showing us the aftermath from another perspective. It has been chilling to see Paris in ruins, and to see how some have responded to the apocalypse. After all, who would have thought we would get a storyline where a religious cult viewed a young boy as the messiah? There are a lot more original stories that could be told, ones that are certainly more intriguing than Laurent going back to Ohio and feeling uncomfortable in his new surroundings for a few episodes. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon being set in France feels like just the beginning of what should be more global adventures for our favorite duo, and retreading old ground would simply be wasting a golden opportunity.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol is a