‘The Walking Dead’s’ Norman Reedus: ‘We’ll Do Anything To Get’ Beth & Carol Back

“The Walking Dead’s” mid-season finale airs this Sunday and with Beth and Carol locked up inside Grady Memorial, it’s another serious situation for Rick’s group.

“The stakes are super high,” Norman Reedus told Access Hollywood of Sunday’s year end closer.

“Daryl keeps losing these girls! You go out on a run with Daryl, you get lost, so I think it’s super high. It’s super high to all of us. Beth represents a certain thing to the group as does Carol, and these are two of our girls [who’ve] been with us from the beginning and we’ll do anything to get them back, so the stakes are super high and everyone’s playing them super high,” he added.

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Those stakes helped influence Daryl’s move in last week’s episode when he sided with Tyreese on the capture and trade with Grady plan, instead of Rick’s guns blazing strategy.

“That was an interesting thing because that scene, when [Rick] says that, and I say, ‘No, no, his plan will work too,’ it’s for Tyreese’s benefit. Rick’s so bloodthirsty at that point that he just wants to go and kill everyone and Tyreese is having a hard moment killing people, as you can tell, but it’s more for him. Daryl’s looking at Tyreese in a way like, ‘We need this guy, and if he’s gonna cave and fall apart as we’re going through this plan, it’s not gonna do anybody any good,'” Norman explained. “Daryl’s being very, very careful in how he approaches that hospital because he’s got his two girls there and he’s doesn’t want a stray bullet to hit them, he doesn’t want [them] to get caught in some sort of crossfire or anything so he’s really trying to suss this all out and do it the safest way, which is very unlike Daryl. I mean, Daryl’s changed so much. All the characters have.”

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While Rick has changed into a character who is willing to make more extreme decisions (like with the Terminans and his Grady plan), it isn’t his way or the highway. Glenn, Abraham and Daryl have become even more influential. Asked where he sees the leadership of the group going, Norman said he has been enjoying watching the group’s internal dynamics evolve.

“I like that there’s change and people listen to each other now and it’s not blindly following somebody. I mean, Rick’s definitely still the leader of this group and maybe he always will be, but I like that he listens and it’s sort of a group effort on things,” Norman said. “And the thing with Tyreese is we just don’t want him to fall apart. … [Rick’s] drawing a plan on the ground and I don’t think he really notices Tyreese sort of losing his sh**… Daryl catches that so he just sort of says that and Tyreese gives him a little nod like, ‘Thank you,’ and it’s kind of like, ‘Don’t make a big deal about it. Hold it together.'”

While his patience has lengthened and his strategy style has changed, Daryl’s lack of desire for fanfare has been with him for many seasons. It’s one of the reasons he quietly took care of the child walkers in the former battered women’s facility in the Carol/Daryl “Consumed” episode, while he thought Carol was sleeping.

“He’s never been the type of guy that is, ‘Look at me. Look what I did.’ He was gonna burn those kids’ bodies while she was still asleep. She just happened to wake up. He probably would’ve never mentioned it,” the actor said.

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Asked what he’s found rewarding about playing Daryl this season, Norman touched on his character’s growth and the ways Daryl quietly helps others.

“It’s like Carol says, he was a boy before and now he’s a man. All the characters are changing all the time and Daryl’s changing all the time as well. I think that there’s a closeness with these people that they give each other these little gifts and I think Daryl does that, and Carol — they all do that. If you watch the episode with me and Carol, there’s so many moments where Daryl gets the door, Daryl picks up the bat, Daryl goes first, Carol – they all have each other’s back, at least those two characters more than ever, so he’s growing as a person for sure,” Norman said.

While Daryl has figured out how to help keep Tyreese from the brink and Rick in check, it remains unclear how he and the rest of the group will react when they find out Eugene Porter (Josh McDermitt) lied and doesn’t have the cure for the zombie apocalypse. Asked what Daryl’s reaction might be like, Norman pointed out that his character has historically, often missed those big announcements.

“A lot of this information gets handed down to the group and Daryl’s not around, he finds out later,” Norman laughed. “Even with Carol being banished, he found out later. He’s always like off doing something when the sh** hits the fan, so I’m curious what Daryl’s going to do too. He’s probably going be really pissed off.”

Or, maybe not.

“When Abraham’s giving that speech in the church and we were filming that, I basically just had my face down… and was just chowing food the whole time. I don’t think that Daryl thinks there’s a safe haven anywhere and he’s just like listening to all these people talk, talk, talk, talk, talk,” Norman added. “So, I don’t know if he’s going to be too shocked to be honest. He might be pissed that he was lied to.”

“The Walking Dead” mid-season finale airs Sunday at 9 PM ET/PT on AMC.

— Jolie Lash