Melissa McBride Returns as Carol for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon

[Warning: This story contains a spoiler for Sunday's The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season finale]. "It's not like we're never gonna see each other again," Daryl told Carol during their goodbye on The Walking Dead series finale. But it's not like fans were never going to see Carol again: AMC announced today that Melissa McBride will star opposite Norman Reedus as a series regular in the second season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. With McBride returning to the fan-favorite role she played on all 11 seasons of the original series, the Walking Dead spin-off has a new title for season 2: The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol.

Spoiler alert: AMC also announced that McBride's Carol makes an appearance in the "Coming Home" season finale of Daryl Dixon, premiering Sunday, October 15th, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and AMC+. The news comes after the network screened the episode during its TWD Universe panel at New York Comic Con.

"I've known there was much more to be told of Carol's story as I felt her so unsettled when we last saw her, as she watched her best friend, Daryl, ride away," McBride said in a statement. "Apart or (hopefully!) together, their stories run deep, and I'm so excited to continue Carol's journey here. This team of storytellers have done amazing work to land these two established characters in an entirely new world to them, and I'm loving the discoveries!"

"My good friend, the talented, beautiful Melissa McBride, will be a series regular for season 2," Reedus said at NYCC. "We couldn't be more thrilled."

McBride made a surprise voice cameo in the penultimate episode of Daryl Dixon and will appear — in the flesh — in a season finale coda sequence that will serve as the unofficial first chapter in The Book of Carol. 

In 2020, AMC announced Reedus and McBride would reprise their roles in an untitled Walking Dead: Daryl & Carol spin-off developed by TWD Universe Chief Content Officer Scott M. Gimple and then-showrunner Angela Kang. McBride bowed out of the series in April 2022, with an AMC spokesperson explaining that relocating to Europe, where Daryl Dixon is set and filmed, became "logistically untenable" for McBride "at this time." The AMC spokesperson added: "We know fans will be disappointed by this news, but The Walking Dead Universe continues to grow and expand in interesting ways and we very much hope to see Carol again in the near future."

The near future is 2024. As ComicBook exclusively reported, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 2 will resume production October 20th in France. Zabel confirmed that the AMC Studios series signed an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA for approval to film amid the ongoing actors' strike.

McBride joins an ensemble that includes returning Daryl Dixon cast members Clémence Poésy as Isabelle, Louis Puech Scigliuzzi as Laurent, Laika Blanc Francard as Sylvie, Anne Charrier as Madame Genet, Romain Levi as Codron, and Eriq Ebouaney as Fallou. McBride also serves as an executive producer on The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol alongside Reedus, series creator and showrunner David Zabel, and EPs Scott M. Gimple, Greg Nicotero, Angela Kang, Brian Bockrath, Daniel Percival, Jason Richman, and Steve Squillante.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol, starring Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride, is set to premiere in 2024 on AMC and AMC+.

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