With this week’s episode of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, and spoilers past this point, Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) once again finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place on the beach. And with that cliffhanger ending (beach-hanger?) we’ve got our setup for the final season of the series, as Daryl and Carol (Melissa McBride) are heading towards the endgame of their fancy European adventures.
In case you need a little more explanation than that, here’s a brief recap of what happened on “Solaz Del Mar,” which is the main settlement we’ve been hanging out at this season in Spain — but also roughly means “comfort of the sea.” Did Daryl and Carol find comfort there? Let’s find out!
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Season 3, Episode 7, “Solaz Del Mar” Recap:
The episode kicks off with a surprising — and welcome — return: ol’ eyepatch himself, Stéphane Codron (Romain Levi), shows up in Spain and discovers the Rubik’s Cube Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) gave to Daryl — which means the former enemy, now ally of Daryl, knows he’s in Spain. How Codron survived Death by Chunnel in the Season 2 finale? Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, back at the main plot, Carol is holing up at the lighthouse, still hopeful they can all take the boat back to America — though things are going pretty badly in Solaz Del Mar, thanks to Federico “Fede” de Rivera (Óscar Jaenada), no longer pretending he’s the leader the town needs, and is just plain bad. And she’s also trying to calm a frustrated Roberto (Hugo Arbués), who is waiting to see whether… Well, read on for what he’s waiting for.
While she deals with that, Daryl and Paz (Alexandra Masangkay), the greatest lesbian cowboy who ever existed, are ready to launch an assault on the impenetrable El Alcazar in order to free the women stolen by the “capital” of Spain, including Justina de Rivera (Candela Saitta), the lady love of Roberto. Paz has her own bone to pick after having her lady love stolen by El Alcazar and being left for dead. So many lady loves!
Inside El Alcazar, Justina is waiting for the choosing ceremony, where she will be owned by a man. If she doesn’t get chosen? Well, she becomes a lowly, beaten slave. Yikes!
Most of the rest of the episode is taken up with two infiltration events: Daryl and Paz head into El Alcazar, pretending to be workers at a weird, fancy ball for the “King of Spain.” And Carol, unable to help herself, sneaks into Solaz Del Mar in a truck, pretending to be French mustard. In a rare case of not having to do with lady loves, she does this to save Antonio (Eduardo Noriega), the roguish man she has fallen for, who Fede has marked for death with the gross “hanging by your stomach” thing they do in the town.
Back at El Alcazar, the King and Queen of Spain are amused by a bizarre marionette show involving walkers, which seems like a disaster waiting to happen. You’re not going to believe what happens there, by the way: a disaster happens. Specifically, good ol’ Disaster Daryl, who frees the walkers, which proceed to attack the party, killing the King and Queen of Spain. Oh, and for good measure he sets the palace on fire.
Before that is the choosing ceremony, which Justina games a little bit to make sure she can get chosen by a man she can overpower. In the chaos, Paz manages to find her lady love — that would be Elena (Greta Fernández) — and it’s revealed why she stayed in El Alcazar… She has a child. The three of them are going to leave together, but unfortunately, Elena’s husband Guillermo Torres (Gonzalo Bouza) has other ideas, and knocks down Paz… Only to be skewers by Elena. And then Paz, for good measure. Double skewered!
While that’s going on, Daryl kills the zombie King of Spain, then Justina’s new “husband,” and frees all the rest of the captured women for good measure. With flaming zombies everywhere, Daryl does manage to get everyone safely out of town, and Paz decides to take them all to Barcelona — with Daryl and Paz parting ways there, while Daryl takes Justina on his bike back to the boat. They also get a really nice European motorcycle montage, and we get more of the flashback sequences we’ve seen throughout the season of Little Daryl and Little Merle, years before the zombie apocalypse.
“The world’s messed up,” Daryl tells Justina when asked why he’s doing all this. “I felt like something got lost, you know? Chance to really have something. It ain’t gonna happen to me. But for you and Roberto… I want you to have that chance.”
Back in town, Carol frees Antonio, but of course, it’s a trap. A shootout ensues. Our heroes manage to escape, only for Fede to release the “dogs” — aka, the walkers he’s kept caged outside town. This is no problem for Carol, of course; she’s a pro. But it sets up the final showdown and moments of the episode.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Season 3 Ending Explained:
Daryl and Justina get back to the lighthouse, but Fede’s thugs are already there, waiting for them. Daryl takes care of them — he, too, is a pro — but we discover that Roberto was taken back to Solaz, and Valentina (Irina Björklund), our horny lighthouse keeper, was shot in the attack.
In Solaz, it turns out Carol and Antonio were betrayed by a dude who said he was helping them, and have been captured by Fede. They’re freed, sort of. Encountering a chained Roberto, Fede lets loose the dead into town for a messed-up public execution. The town rebels and gives them weapons… And sure enough, Daryl shows up, too.
Justina arrives and walks safely through the walkers — who are killed by both Daryl and Fede, who can’t let Justina die. Fede’s mom slaps him, and the town all agrees: Fede stinks. He’s chained up, though Justina pleads mercy, and Daryl and Carol head back to the boat, with Justina and Roberto ready to head back, as well.
While they wait to leave, Daryl reflects on what his plot arc has been about. “You know my whole life I’ve been running,” Daryl says. “Just running and fighting. That’s all.” And that, if you’re curious, is why we’ve been having Little Daryl flashbacks.
He continues, though, that his whole life he’s felt like when he gets somewhere, he’s “gotta go.” And now he’s worried that the same thing will happen when he gets back to the Commonwealth.
He’s not going back, though. At least not yet. Fede convinces his mom to free him from prison, and immediately heads to the boat to kill Daryl. He’s stopped, but not before he shoots the boat, which is… Full of fuel, of course. The boat is set on fire, and before they can put out the fire, it explodes.
That’s the bad news. The good news? Codron sees the explosion, so he’s headed their way. The even better news? We get to hear a rad Spanish version of “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails and Johnny Cash as the episode ends.
With the boat gone, how will Daryl and Carol get home in Season 4? We don’t know the answer to that, specifically, but they will get home. Season 4 will continue to be in Spain, so perhaps they will find another boat. Or an airplane? Or maybe they swim. We’ll just have to wait and see.
When Will The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 4 Premiere?
So, first of all: yes, there will be a fourth — and final — season of Daryl Dixon. Filming began in Spain in September of this year, and AMC announced it would be the end of the series back in July. While we don’t have a Daryl Dixon Season 4 premiere date yet, the whole TWD franchise — mostly — runs like clockwork at this point.
It takes about five and a half to six months to shoot a season of Daryl Dixon, and then another five and a half to six months is taken up with post-production, leading to release. So given that, it’s highly likely that The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 4 will premiere in September 2026, or at the latest, October 2026.
How Many More Foreign Nations Can Daryl Dixon Destabilize?
After taking down several different governments in France in Season 2, and killing the King and Queen of Spain in Season 3, one wonders how many more resurgent regimes Daryl Dixon can destroy in the fourth season. The limit does not exist — though with the Offrenda (the previous Spanish government) off the table now, it’ll be interesting to see the big bad next season. Perhaps the twist is that by the time Daryl and Carol get home, the Commonwealth might not be the sort of place they want to be anymore. Or hey, maybe they could team up with Maggie (Lauren Cohan) to take down New Babylon, which sucks.
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”
Where To Watch The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
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