Entertainment Weekly displayed a teaser image for the upcoming season of AMC’s smash hit ‘The Walking Dead’ and it features none other than breakout character Daryl Dixon, played by Norman Reedus, looking really messed up and gagged and bound.  When last audiences saw Daryl, he was locked in a train car with Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and most of the rest of the cast including newcomers Abraham Ford (Michael Cudlitz), Rosita Espinoza (Christian Seratos) Eugene Poorter (Josh McDermitt) and Tara Chambler (Alanna Masterson).

In an earlier interview, the creator of the comic book and executive producer for the show, Robert Kirkman hinted at what to expect in the upcoming season premier:

“In our premiere episode of season 5 we’re going to give a ton of answers of who the people of Terminus are, what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, what’s going on with them. And by the end of that episode you’re going to have a much better understanding of what’s going on with them and why they’re so important to the show. Oh, and Daryl dies.”

Whaaaaaaaaat?!?!  Okay, he’s obviously joking.  First, he’d never reveal who dies ahead of time and it’s freakin’ Daryl Dixon, arguably the most popular character on the show.  But he does look pretty worse for wear.  Do those bastards in Terminus beat him up in some form of interrogation?

What makes Daryl’s break-out popularity so interesting is that his character is one of the few that didn’t originate in the comic book and has actually never appeared in its pages.  Daryl and deceased brother Merle (Michael Rooker) were created by Kirkman exclusively for the show.  Kirkman has also gone on record saying that this status would likely remain in place, stating:

“I really like the separation. I like that when we sit down to write the show one of the first things we deal with is: ‘How does Daryl Dixon change this story?’ Because we always start from: ‘Ok, we like this part of the comic. How are we going to do it?’… It would be cool if he was in the comic, but I don’t really have any plans on doing that.”

You can see a larger version of the teaser image below:

Are you worried, Daryl fans?  Or do you think the producers are smart enough to know that if they kill Daryl, the fans would revolt and riot in the streets?

Source: Entertainment Weekly