The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon

IMDb 7.5/10 (37,581 votes) | 2023–2026 | USA | Drama, Horror | English / French

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (2023–) is a post-apocalyptic television series set within The Walking Dead universe, with Norman Reedus returning as Daryl Dixon after the conclusion of the original series. The story begins when Daryl mysteriously washes ashore in southern France with little idea of how he got there and an immediate determination to find a way home. His journey soon becomes tied to Isabelle, a former Parisian party girl turned nun, and Laurent, a boy raised by a religious community that believes he may represent something important for humanity’s future. The second season, subtitled The Book of Carol, brings Melissa McBride back as Carol Peletier and gradually reunites two of the franchise’s longest-running characters, while the third season takes their journey beyond France and into Spain. Compared with the original The Walking Dead, the series has a markedly different visual identity, using medieval abbeys, Roman ruins, European city streets, coastal fortifications and famous cultural landmarks to create a version of the apocalypse that feels rooted in centuries of history rather than the small towns and forests of the American South.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (2023–) has been filmed extensively on location across France and Spain, with the production making unusually ambitious use of real historic sites. Daryl first comes ashore at Plage de Sainte-Croix near Martigues, before moving through the town’s Miroir aux Oiseaux and Quai Brescon and crossing the Roman Pont du Gard. The Abbey of Saint Bernadette is a composite of several real French locations, including Royaumont Abbey near Paris and Abbaye de Montmajour outside Arles, with other historic buildings used to complete the complex. Paris becomes increasingly important as the first season develops. Isabelle’s flashback to the beginning of the outbreak uses the Bonnie club at Tour Morland, Pont de Bir-Hakeim and Place Saint-Georges, while Daryl and his companions later pass the Panthéon, Pont de la Tournelle and the banks of the Seine. They enter the abandoned Petite Ceinture railway before descending into the real Catacombs of Paris on their way to the underground Demi-Monde; production was actually allowed to film inside the Catacombs, although larger action scenes were recreated on a studio set. The ruined Eiffel Tower sequences are another piece of visual trickery: scenes supposedly taking place on the Champ de Mars were filmed at Domaine national de Saint-Cloud, where a large structure and visual effects were used to create the damaged tower. Moret-sur-Loing doubles for Angers when the group arrives by horse-drawn carriage, while Fort de Cormeilles-en-Parisis becomes one of the series’ principal fortified strongholds. The journey eventually reaches Normandy, where Mont-Saint-Michel and its tidal bay become the Nest, one of the most visually important locations in both the first and second seasons, with the surrounding Normandy coast and D-Day beaches also appearing.

Season 2 expands the Paris locations further, including the real Louvre, where Marion Genet establishes her headquarters and scenes were filmed inside the museum itself, as well as La Défense and the steps beneath the Grande Arche, where Daryl and Carol are reunited. Saint-Malo and additional locations around Normandy and the Paris region were also used as their journey continues.

Season 3 moves production almost entirely to Spain, although Madrid initially doubles for a devastated London, with streets including Calle de Arlabán, Calle de los Madrazo and Calle de Cedaceros transformed into the British capital. Madrid also substitutes for parts of Barcelona, while other scenes use the Madrid Stock Exchange, Mandarin Oriental Ritz and districts around the city. Sepúlveda in Castilla y León becomes the fictional community of Solaz del Mar, with its Plaza de España, historic streets and Las Pucherillas district heavily transformed for the series. Farther east, the ruins of Belchite and the stark landscape of El Planerón give the fifth episode of the season its strong spaghetti-western character, while Daryl is also seen travelling along the disused railway between Samper de Calanda and Andorra in Aragón. Production additionally travelled through Galicia, Catalonia, Valencia and other parts of Spain, using everything from Atlantic coastline to arid inland landscapes.

The fourth and final season, scheduled for 2027, continues this Spanish location strategy with filming around Madrid, Bilbao, Galicia, Andalucía, Segovia and Toledo, making the series as much a journey through real European landscapes as it is through the fictional aftermath of the walker apocalypse.

Map

Locations

Catacombs of Paris

Fort de Cormeilles-en-Parisis

Grande Arche

Jim Morrison’s Grave

Mont-Saint-Michel

Montmajour Abbey

Omaha Beach

Pont du Gard

Tunnel de l’Ave-Maria