The Walking Dead franchise is a lot of things, but rarely would you call it “joyful” or fun. There are moments of joy between the zombie killings and main character deaths. But mostly it’s at best wistful for a time gone by, and worse, a grim journey to the depths of human despair. Enter Stephen Merchant on the season premiere of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3, who gives the whole season a much-needed injection of joy.
Spoilers for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 premiere, “Costa da Morte,” past this point.
In the episode, we get an answer to a mystery that has been plaguing fans (it’s me, I am fans) since the Season 2 finale: how do Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) end up in Spain, if they were last spotted heading through the Chunnel from France to England? The answer takes up most of the premiere, which not-so-shockingly shows how England is not the preserved paradise Daryl and Carol were promised, but instead an abandoned wasteland of the dead… Or as they’re called in cockney rhyming slang, “Squids.”
The duo discovers that info thanks to the one surviving Englishman, Julian (Merchant), who climbs over various roofs to share his Scotch Whiskey with them one evening. While Daryl and Carol have resigned themselves to dying in London like so many before them, Julian’s arrival, and story, give them a spark of hope. Specifically, Julian’s boat.
Turns out that Julian was planning on leaving England with everyone else, but essentially, they all left him behind and/or died. Without a crew and frankly scared to leave what remained of his life behind, Julian stayed in London, learning how to survive amongst the horde of squids. The starving Carol and Daryl semi-slow play it to convince him to let them use their boat, and while Julian initially balks, they lie about being sailors… Something that doesn’t fool him too much.
And what follows is rather lovely. Merchant, a commensurate performer, writer, and comedian known for everything from The Office (English version) to Hello Ladies, and even the superhero film Logan, tamps down his eccentricities but still brings a bit of brightness to the world. He fits in great with Daryl and Carol, calling them on their lack of boat skills but agreeing to sail off anyway. The sequences of the trio on Julian’s tiny boat are delightful as he drinks and bonds with them, figuring out how to sail in the right direction back to America.
Unfortunately, things do not turn out well for Julian, as they sail into a storm where he gets knocked on the head by a spar from the sail. The boat crashes, and either from the head wound and/or the crash, dies and gets zombified. Squided, if you will.
It’s a real bummer to see him go (I wrote “booooo” in my notes for the episode when it happened), but having seen the whole season, what Merchant does is set the tone for what’s to come. Daryl Dixon Season 3 still isn’t a laugh riot, but that sense of fun, kindness, and hope Julian brings to the premiere sticks with Carol and Daryl throughout, to varying degrees. Would the season have been a notch better if it were The Book of Julian? Maybe. But we can drink some of our last remaining Scotch to his memory, and that we got to spend an hour with the character at all.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
New episodes of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon premiere on Sundays on AMC and AMC+. The episodes premiere at 9 pm ET on AMC and AMC+
Here’s the full list of episodes in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 with expected premiere dates:
- Sunday, September 7, 2025: The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Season 3, Episode 1, “Costa da Morte”
- Sunday, September 14, 2025: The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Season 3, Episode 2, “La Ofrenda”
- Sunday, September 21, 2025: The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Season 3, Episode 3, “El Scarificio”
- Sunday, September 28, 2025: The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Season 3, Episode 4, “La Justicia Fronteriza”
- Sunday, October 5, 2025: The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Season 3, Episode 5, “Limbo”
- Sunday, October 12, 2025: The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Season 3, Episode 6, “Contrabando”
- Sunday, October 19, 2025: The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Season 3, Episode 7, “Solaz Del Mar”
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