Earlier this week, we reported on a fairly shocking development from the still-untitled The Walking Dead spin-off show, intented to be centered on fan-favorite character pairing Daryl and Carol: Carol was bailing. (And, like, we know this franchise runs through characters even faster than late-season Walking Dead episodes run through accumulated fan goodwill, but still: Losing someone before the show even airs has to be something of a record.)
Questions about why Melissa McBride—who’s been consistently one of the best things about this franchise for 12 years now and counting—would bail on a show half-built around her character have, obviously, been prominent since the news broke. AMC’s line has been fairly simple: When planned production of the show moved to Europe, McBride opted out on logistical and scheduling grounds.
Which has not stopped roughly a billion rumors about the change from cropping up online, many of them focused on perceptions of, or speculation about, some kind of conflict or maneuvering between McBride and her once and no longer future co-star, Norman Reedus. (Looking around, we can’t find any sourcing for conflict between the two, who’ve become the longest-serving cast members of The Walking Dead basically through the operation of simple showbiz attrition.)
Don’t worry, though: Series star Jeffrey Dean Morgan has now waded into the argument, figurative barbed-wire baseball bat in hand to smack down “toxic” fans. Morgan hopped on social media yesterday to yell at fans saying mean things about “Norm,” declaring that he’s “given more than anyone to you all,” which is true—at least, in terms of amount of leather vests worn on screen. Morgan also—apparently taking on self-appointed spokesperson duties for his castmates—then explained that there are “factors involved that are nobody’s business,” that McBride “wants/needs a break” and that she “made a call that was hers alone.” Which will definitely shut down all speculation, instantly and forever, so gratitude to Jeffrey Dean Morgan for that.
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