'He wants to have revenge, and he's really not listening,' says the star

The Walking Dead: Norman Reedus says Daryl is going 'rogue' in season 8

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Entertainment Weekly will be revealing our latest The Walking Dead covers on Thursday, Sept. 21. To lead up to the unveiling, we are posting a TWD news item every day. (Also see some exclusive new season 8 photos as well as Andrew Lincoln talking about the Old Man Rick twist.)

The forces are finally united to take on Negan when season 8 of The Walking Dead kicks-off on Oct. 22. The Kingdom and the Hilltop joined Alexandria at the end of season 7 to drive out the Saviors (not to mention those pesky, weird-talking Scavengers), and according to star Norman Reedus, the coming campaign feels almost like rooting for your favorite sports team against their bitter rivals.

“There are definite teams now,” Reedus tells EW. “People are going to be rooting for one team or the other, and it does have more kick to it than it did. I mean, season 7 was difficult. It was super hard for all of us. But in season 8, the gang’s back together, and it’s full blown right now. It’s A versus B. It’s your home team fighting your biggest rival, so there definitely will be cheerleaders.”

The sports analogy is interesting because seeing our heroes get beaten down repeatedly in season 7 did feel kind of like watching your favorite team get blown out, but the star promises we’ll have a much more even fight in season 8. However, just because you now have one united team of Kingdomers, Hilltoppers, and Alexandrians all playing together, that doesn’t mean everyone is necessarily working off of the same play book. That’s according to an interesting tidbit that Reedus dropped next about Daryl. “You know, some of us are going rogue a little bit — like myself. There are a couple of some rogue moments in there.”

So while Rick, Maggie, and Ezekiel may have a plan, it seems the wild child known as Daryl Dixon may have his own ideas on how to best exact vengeance. “There’s no dilly-dallying with him,” says Reedus. “There’s no gray area right now with him. He’s on a mission to do one thing, and sometimes for the good of the group, you veer left a little bit, and he’s still veering right. So, like I said, he’s kind of going rogue a little bit in the beginning.”

It appears Daryl has still not forgiven nor forgotten what happened to him when he was forced to sit naked in a cell eating dog food and listening to the infuriatingly peppy “Easy Street.” “It’s very much unfinished business,” says Reedus. “And when certain people are trying to plot the overall takeover or the overall battle, he’s on one direct mission. I mean, he was tortured last year. He wants his s— back, and he wants to have revenge, and he’s really not listening.”

And that’s just the way we like it.

Make sure to check out our big Walking Dead cover next week. And for more Walking Dead scoop, follow me on Twitter @DaltonRoss.