When Daryl Dixon Met Lucille

Will Daryl Dixon meet the business end of Lucille?

Before I get started let me clarify something. NO, this is NOT an official image and it wasn’t leaked. This is 100% Photoshopped. It was posted to a horror group I belong to on Facebook.  (EDIT: Image originally posted to All Things Horror by Lon Angus). But it raises a very interesting question and a story line that I think we’re going to see play out.

SPOILER ALERT: I’m going to delve into comic story lines here for a moment. I will NOT give away the fate of certain characters but I will mention motivations and character traits. I will also talk openly about casting decisions for the show and the reported schedules of actors currently on the show. If you have not read the comics or if you want to remain completely spoiler free for the show stop reading now.

Still with me? OK here we go.

Negan Is Coming

We now know, “Negan is coming”. Daryl blew the hell out of some of his men during last week’s mid-season premiere. I didn’t catch it, but there was a car in the background of this sequence. Might that have been Negan watching? Props to Vinnie Gorham @VinnieGorham for posting. Negan in the comic world is a bad guy that I think it’s fair to say makes the Governor look like a pussy. AMC has announced they have cast Jeffrey Dean Morgan to play Negan and it’s a perfect choice. Whether or not Negan will follow the arc that he does in the comic is open to some speculation but I’d guess that he’s going to be just the way he is on the page – a complete bad ass that takes no prisoners and rules with an iron fist.

Negan has a friend. Her name is Lucille. Negan uses Lucille to carry out some of his dirty work.

Oh… I should probably mention that Lucille is a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. As a wrestling for three decades I like this weapon. As a horror fan I absolutely love it.

Here’s a panel from the comic with Negan and Lucille in action:

I won’t divulge here who’s being hit, but suffice to say it was a tough read. And here’s, in my opinion, is where Daryl comes into play.

Daryl Dixon Is Going To Die

This is 100% speculation, but I fully believe that Daryl is going to die and Negan is going to be the man to kill him. And yes, I’ve heard all the people that talk about how they’ll riot if Daryl dies. No they won’t. They’ll be pissed. They’ll be sad and they’ll continue watching because they’ll be SO upset at Negan that they’ll want to see how and when he gets his. That’s good television.

The character of Daryl doesn’t exist in the comics so he’d be relatively easy to kill off on the show. The man behind Daryl (Norman Reedus) has stated that he’d like to do work beyond The Walking Dead and is linked to several projects including a new show for AMC called Ride With Norman Reedus and movies Sky and Triple 9. There’s also reportedly another Bookdock Saints sequel in the works. And let’s not forget that The Walking Dead doesn’t shy away from killing off its characters.

Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) said this about the season finale: “I felt sick to my stomach when I read the script. It was the first day in the whole six years of working on The Walking Dead that I was late for work because I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I was so angry and frustrated and I felt sick. And that was just after reading it.”

Lauren Cohan (Maggie) had this to say: “It took a really, really long time for everybody to feel okay again after the finale, let’s put it that way.” I think it’s clear that someone big is going to die, and seeing as the producers simply don’t want to kill Glenn my bet is Daryl.

Check out this clip of TWD creator Robert Kirkman on Talking Dead talking about the introduction of Negan.

What do you think… Am I off base???