There are a lot of cultural touchstones for “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon,” including HBO’s recent apocalyptic drama “The Last of Us” and the video games that inspired it (which, in turn, were partly inspired by “The Walking Dead”). Though ratings for the flagship show began to slip around season 8, Nicotero saw the success of “The Last of Us” as a sign that “The Walking Dead” wasn’t dead yet. It just needed a bit of a shake-up.
Robert Heinlein’s 1961 sci-fi novel “Stranger in a Strange Land” was another influence, though that story has become so ingrained in pop culture that it’s more of a meta-influence at this point. But when development on “Daryl Dixon” began in earnest in 2020 and the spin-off began to take shape, it took on the shape of one particular movie, according to Nicotero: “Mad Max 2,” also known as “The Road Warrior.”
“When I was talking to David [Zabel, showrunner] initially about the show, I kept referring to it very much like ‘The Road Warrior,’ where you come upon Mad Max in the desert and he connects with this group of people. I said, ‘This feels like our version of Mad Max’ […] It’s a road show when Daryl shows up in Marseille, and then has his trek through post-apocalyptic France.”
Similar to “The Road Warrior,” which picked up after we witnessed the tragic loss of Max’s family and his descent into madness in “Mad Max,” Daryl’s solo series begins with a lone warrior whom “Walking Dead” fans have already gotten to know over 11 seasons of the original show. That’s a lot of hours of TV, so making “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon” feel fresh presented a challenge.