16 Years Later, It's Officially the End of an Era for Daryl Dixon in New Trailer

Published Oct 9, 2026, 6:10 PM EDT

Ryan O'Rourke is a Senior News Writer at Collider with a specific interest in all things adult animation, video game adaptations, and the work of Mike Flanagan. He is also an experienced baseball writer with over six years of articles between multiple outlets, most notably FanSided's CubbiesCrib. Whether it's taking in a baseball game, a new season of Futurama or Castlevania: Nocturne, or playing the latest From Software title, he is always finding ways to show his fandom. When it comes to gaming and anything that takes inspiration from it, he is deeply opinionated on what's going on. Outside of entertainment, he's a graduate of Eureka College with a Bachelor's in Communication where he honed his craft as a writer. Between The IV Leader at Illinois Valley Community College and The Pegasus at Eureka, he spent the majority of his college career publishing articles on everything from politics to campus happenings and, of course, entertainment for the student body. Those principles he learned covering the 2020 election, Palestine, and so much more are brought here to Collider, where he has gleefully written on everything from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to Nathan Lane baby-birding sewer boys.

In the aftermath of The Walking Dead, a world of possibility still awaited in the post-apocalyptic franchise. Fear the Walking Dead was still wrapping up, and three shows remained on the horizon — The Walking Dead: Dead City, The Ones Who Live, and Daryl Dixon. Now, Negan and Maggie's fates are up in the air after Season 3 of their spin-off, and Rick and Michonne's story is wrapped up for the time being in Alexandria. That leaves the adventures of Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride), which will soon end with Season 4 next year after a delay by AMC.

Next month will mark 16 years since Reedus first appeared as the titular Daryl and broke out as one of the survival horror series' biggest stars. He's one of only a few actors to survive from the first season until the flagship show said "rest in peace" and has reprised his role across not just the spin-off, but The Walking Dead video games and even Adult Swim's Robot Chicken. Daryl Dixon Season 4 will be his and McBride's final ride, and they'll seek to do something Daryl has been trying since he first washed ashore in France — go home. To this point, though, getting back to the U.S. and their allies has been easier said than done.

After skipping out on San Diego Comic-Con over the summer, the spin-off has made the trip to New York Comic Con, with showrunner David Zaibel, star McBride, and The Walking Dead chief content officer Scott M. Gimple in attendance to discuss how the journey will end and reflect on the road to get there. They were also finally able to confirm that Season 4 would premiere in February, sharing that alongside a new trailer at the emotional, action-packed finale. The first teaser released last month showed Daryl and Carol fighting through the Spanish badlands and having an encounter with Jimmy Smits' uniquely resourceful former doctor and Navy Captain Alejandro Perkins, but this new footage goes all the way back to when the two forged their unbreakable bond. After flashing back to the beginning, the end of their story is set up, as they set out on one action-heavy, tear-jerking adventure to find home and hopefully stay there this time.

Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What Is Your Biggest Horror Nightmare? Elm Street · Chucky · Scream · The Conjuring

Four horror franchises. Four completely different ways of scaring you. One waits until you fall asleep. One makes sure nobody believes you. One is already in your group of friends. And one is in the house with your family. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually watch horror, and find out which nightmare was built for you.

😴Elm Street(Freddy Krueger)

🧸Chucky(Child's Play)

📞Scream(Ghostface)

🕯️The Conjuring(The Warren Files)

FIND YOUR NIGHTMARE →

Which horror scene makes you cover your eyes? Four classic images. One of them is worse than the others for you.

ASomebody falling asleep when they really should not. BA toy that has moved, and nobody touched it. CA phone ringing in an empty house. DA child talking to somebody who is not there.

NEXT QUESTION →

You are home alone and you hear a noise. First thought? Everybody has one. It arrives before you have decided anything.

AI am exhausted and my mind is playing tricks on me. BSomething in this room is not where I left it. CSomebody is in here with me. DThis house has never felt entirely right.

NEXT QUESTION →

Which horror movie rule would you break first? Everybody thinks they would survive. Almost nobody actually does.

ANever fall asleep. BNever leave it out of your sight. CNever answer the phone. DNever go down to the basement.

NEXT QUESTION →

Something genuinely frightening happens. What do you do? Not in a film. In your actual living room, tonight.

AConvince myself I imagined the whole thing. BTell someone, and brace for them not believing me. CWork out which person I know could be behind it. DGet everybody in the house into one room.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you actually watch a horror film? Be honest about this one. Nobody is checking.

AFine during. Wide awake at two in the morning. BShouting at the screen that nobody is listening. CCalling the twist out loud before it lands. DThrough my fingers, holding on to something.

NEXT QUESTION →

Somebody offers you serious money. Which do you still refuse? The amount does not matter. There is one on this list you are not doing.

AFall asleep in a room I have never been in before. BKeep an old doll on the shelf facing my bed. CAnswer every unknown number that calls after midnight. DSpend one night alone in a house with a history.

NEXT QUESTION →

Which feeling stays with you a week after the film? Good horror does not stop when the credits do.

ANot wanting to turn the bedroom light off. BNot trusting one particular object in my house. CLooking twice at people I have known for years. DFeeling like something came home with me.

NEXT QUESTION →

Something wakes you at 3am. What is the worst possibility? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your nightmare.

AThat I am still asleep, and it knows it. BThat the thing nobody believed me about is here. CThat somebody with a key is downstairs. DThat something is in the doorway, watching us sleep.

REVEAL MY NIGHTMARE →

The Lights Just Went Out Your Nightmare Is…

Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what it would leave behind.

Elm Street

Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever won that particular argument.

Freddy is horror's cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever.
You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your own head is where this does its damage.
These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose because they are weak. They lose because they are tired.
You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.

Chucky

Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.

Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you.
You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You know that feeling from real life too.
The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you have met those adults.
By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.

Scream

Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.

Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be somebody who was at the party.
You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the same way you watch films.
The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention.
Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.

The Conjuring

Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.

The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary room that quietly stops feeling ordinary.
Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than personal, which is rarer than it sounds.
This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are the ones who are not alone and refuse to be.
Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one standing in the hallway.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

What Do We Know About 'The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon' Season 4?

In Season 4, Daryl and Carol's future is looking more uncertain than ever in the ravaged Spanish countryside. Season 3 ended with their clearest chance of getting home going up in flames, leaving them without an obvious way across the ocean and back to their friends. With only hope and each other to cling to, they'll have to keep pushing forward, all the while grappling with what it means for each of them to find home. Smits will join Reedus, McBride, and a returning supporting cast that includes Romain Levi, Eduardo Noriega, Óscar Jaenada, Candela Saitta, and Hugo Arbués.

Daryl Dixon wasn't the only surprise in store for fans of the post-apocalyptic franchise. Gimple also revealed on stage that, for the first time, AMC+ would host all 11 seasons of the flagship The Walking Dead series starting on January 7, 2027. The move to bring all of Rick Grimes and company's journey under the banner means the entire franchise can now be found on the streamer as part of the Walking Dead Universe collection, which consists of a staggering 371 episodes. There probably isn't enough time to catch up on all of that before Daryl and Carol's last ride, but Courtney Thomasma, EVP Linear and Streaming Products for AMC Global Media, feels there's still no better time to gather the walker-infested saga under one roof for those who want to watch from beginning to bloody end.

“The Walking Dead continues to be one of the most popular television franchises in the world, and we’re thrilled to add the groundbreaking, original series to our flagship streaming service. In the new year, both dedicated fans and new audiences will be able to immersive themselves in this cultural phenomenon from the very beginning and be the first to experience the new stories from the TWD Universe, including the upcoming final season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – exclusively streaming on AMC+.”

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon's fourth and final season premieres on AMC in February. Check out the new trailer above and stay tuned here at Collider for more news from New York Comic Con throughout the weekend.

Release Date 2023 - 2027-00-00

Network AMC

Showrunner David Zabel

Melissa McBride

Carol Peletier

What Do We Know About 'The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon' Season 4?

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