Life after Beth

Fans want to see Daryl happy, perhaps with a partner. He came close to that with Beth…

I think if they came close and Daryl had those feelings for her, he may have felt them but I don’t think he totally understood them. So there was a little bit of that there. I just don’t know that he knew what that was, to be honest. There’s a certain connection with Carol of course. She’s a lot like him. Carol’s probably his go- to girl for someone to lean on. But as far as relationships, I don’t know that Daryl’s ready for that. But never say never. Do you think he still has some growing up to do?

I just don’t think he’s done a lot of it. He comes from a background where he feels like he’s one of the undesirable ones. So he doesn’t think anybody would be attracted to him that way. He spent most of his childhood with his brother doing guy things. If any dirty stuff has gone down, it was probably Merle doing it while Daryl waited outside. You know what I mean [ laughs]? So his self- worth isn’t high enough for him to pair off just yet?

I don’t know. Michonne’s been giving me eyeballs lately [ laughs]. After five years, what keeps Daryl exciting for you?

I find new things about him all the time. He’s very interesting. There’s also all these other relationships with these characters. There’s a real trust he has with Rick, first off. Then the Glenn character, Daryl had a soft spot for him when he started fighting with him, and now that relationship is a bigger, stronger brotherhood. There’s some new guys in the group, that maybe we haven’t spent much time with. And now there’s a whole new group!