The Walking Dead creator confirms character’s sexuality
The creator of The Walking Dead has addressed the sexuality of a character long rumoured to be gay.
Actor Norman Reedus fed rumours about his character Daryl Dixon’s sexuality in September, when he said he’d been playing him as “prison gay” on the AMC horror show.
Reedus had said: “[Showrunner Frank Darabont] said, ‘I’ve got an idea for Daryl. He’s gay. Would you be interested in that?’
“I was like, ‘Let me hear you out.’ He said, ‘Well, he’s prison gay. Like, you’ll catch him looking at a member of the same sex, but if you mention it to him, he’ll just stab you and be like, What the fuck? He will never admit it.’ I was like, ‘That’ll blow minds – let’s do that.'”
However, creator Robert Kirkman revealed on The Talking Dead that the idea for Daryl’s sexuality was dropped – and that he is actually straight.
He said: “We play Daryl Dixon being somewhat asexual on the show. He is a very introverted character, and I think that’s some of his appeal.”
He said of the rumours: “It caused quite a hubbub online. And I just wanted to make it clear that the possibility is there.
“I would have been fine with it; the network would have been fine with it; but we ultimately didn’t do that.
“I can make it official: Daryl Dixon is actually straight.”
He added: “Coming back in our next half of the season we are going to be introducing a very prominent gay character from the comics that’ll be debuting.”
