Recently, rumors began to swirl that that the quiet, closed-off rebel from ‘The Walking Dead’ TV show, Daryl Dixon, played by Norman Reedus, might possibly be gay, since he, so far hasn’t had any romantic involvement with anyone, male or female.  He has close bonds with Carol (Melissa McBride) and Beth (Emily Kinney), but has not “sealed the deal” with anyone.

Now that doesn’t automatically make him gay.  Daryl is simply closed off and guarded.  The other characters have slowly chipped away at this hard exterior, even Rick, who called Daryl his “brother” in the last episode “A.”

It sounds as if Daryl’s shell will continue to crack as the new season progresses.  Showrunner Scott M. Gimple spoke out about the gay rumors by saying:

“We know all sorts of things about the characters that we haven’t revealed. [But] we’re not holding back information on Daryl’s sexuality as any sort of big reveal. The fact that there’s still a question as to what Daryl’s orientation is in Season 5 absolutely speaks to Daryl’s character; he is a very guarded, very closed-off individual in a lot of ways. We have been able to see him ever so slowly open up and show the other characters aspect by aspect as to what makes him tick. That’s been a very satisfying journey for all of us on the creative side to portray. [And] he’s still on that journey… This is a character who is going to continue to grow closer to the other characters and let his guard down, and let them see just who he is, in every way.”

Gimple did however spill that a gay male character would be coming to the show.  Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if metrosexual-even-in-the-zombie-apocalypse Garreth turned out to be gay.  I mean, you can’t find medicine or food in this world, but this one found all the American Eagle clothes and pomade left.  And a hair dryer and a way to make it work.  Just sayin’.

In the comics, there have been three gay males: couple Eric and Aaron, who really never amounted to much; and Paul Monroe a.k.a. Jesus, the kung fu fighting zombie slayer who has risen to prominence as of late.  There have been rumors that the producers are hoping to work in Negan, a recent villain character, so they may fast-forward and bring Jesus in as well.

There’s more to learn about Daryl, but I don’t know that him being gay is in the cards.  But personally, I’d love to see a gay man in an ass-kicking role just once.

Source: TV Line