Warning: This Q&A contains spoilers from the “Always Accountable” episode of The Walking Dead.



Still no Glenn resolution in this week’s episode of The Walking Dead, but “Always Accountable” was a fan-pleasing Daryl adventure, and an especially welcome one, since Norman Reedus’s motorcycle-riding tracker/recruiter had been seen a little too infrequently for any fan’s taste so far in Season 6. Daryl was back in his element in this one, using his tracking skills to get himself and (new couple?) Sasha and Abraham back on the road to Alexandria, after a less-than-successful first effort to recruit new survivors into the safe zone.

Reedus, who will also be starring in his own travel series for AMC next year, talked to Yahoo TV about how Daryl’s interaction with the people in the woods is going to have serious, immediate, and far-reaching blowback for him and his friends; how we should be paying attention to every little detail in the storylines this season; about his upcoming Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid-ish episode with Andrew Lincoln; and about his plans to clone his castmates and have them serve him cucumber salads every day. Because… Norman.

Oh, and that guy who asks Daryl for help at the end of “Always Accountable”? Not who you think it is…

This is such a great Daryl episode. It’s such a great throwback to Daryl being in his element, where he really thrives.

Yeah. There was a storyline [last season] where Daryl builds a motorcycle, and he wants to go out and try to find people. He’s down for that. [Earlier this season,] Rick says, “I don’t think we should find anybody else.” Daryl says, “I think we should.” It turns into Rick saying, “You know, you’re right. Let’s go find people.” This is the first sort of recruiting mission that I did on my own. It took a lot out of me, I think, to make that decision. The circumstances that I made the decision in seemed right at the time. I don’t know that [Daryl] made a bad call. I think those were good people, but good people do bad things and stupid things in this world to survive. It was kind of a big deal. That decision comes back in a huge way, and it just never stops. We’re at a thousand miles an hour now.

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You said recently that viewers should be paying very close attention to the details this season. Things always pay off in this show if you pay attention, and that’s one of the great rewards of watching. But are you saying that’s true even more this season?

Starting right now. [Laughs.] [Showrunner] Scott [Gimple] has things mapped out so far in advance, and there’s no wasted screentime on this show. If you see something, it’s going to play later. I mean, down to like the little carved statue I demanded [the guy in the forest] give me, just to be a jerk. Every single thing that happens, from here on in, is just like we just jumped off a cliff.

About that carved statue: Was there another reason Daryl demanded it? It didn’t seem that random.

Yeah. Daryl sees the insulin in the bag, and he knows they need that. It kind of explains why and how they’re operating right now. It was like, “Here, I brought this back, but give me something. I came all this way. I’m not going to do this for nothing.” It showed that I’m a nice guy, but not a super nice guy. You know what I mean? He doesn’t care if his grandfather taught him how to whittle. "Just give me something. I’m scavenging you right now.” If he’s taken the time to whittle this, it’s personal. It’s like, “I’m just going to take that little bit that’s personal away from you, right now.” It might hurt him a little bit.

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When Daryl sees the cooler of insulin, does he make the decision at that point that he might recruit these people? It makes him realize, as you said, there’s more to their story.

When he makes the decision to ask the three questions… how those people answer those questions, it tells a lot about them. The guy’s digging a grave when I’m asking him those questions. I’m helping him dig the grave. It seemed like the right thing to do, and I really wanted it to be difficult for those words to come out of Daryl’s mouth. I don’t know those characters’ backstory, and I’m putting everyone at risk by bringing anybody back at all. It’s a big deal to recruit people. I wanted it to be difficult for Daryl to say those lines, especially knowing what’s going to happen at the end of the episode, because it’s got to hurt Daryl personally that they screwed him over.