The Walking Dead aired another typically brutal episode last night, returning to Negan and his gang of Saviors as the malicious figure turned his attention to one of the show’s toughest characters: Daryl Dixon.

Daryl was held naked and shivering in a jail cell, fed dog food sandwiches and forced to listen to a maddeningly happy song on repeat (we caught up with the man behind the song - you can read about it here).

The morning after the episode, The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Reedus to discuss the difficult scenes.

“It was emotionally draining; it was definitely one of the hardest ones I've had to film in a long time,” Reedus said, praising the crew for their help and respect on set.

“You're in a jail cell and you're naked and crying for three days and they're right there with you and everyone was really quiet just trying to capture what's in the air. I don't know if you could do that with a crew that you didn't feel that comfortable with. It was intense.”

As for the dog food sandwiches, obviously they weren’t made from real dog food, but apparently they weren’t exactly gourmet either.

“Spam or something with some other stuff ground up in it with rock-hard rolls,” Reedus listed of their ingredients.

“I imagine that's what dog food would taste like. That sandwich … it was pretty gross.”

Reedus said that he doesn’t see his character yielding to Negan as it would mean giving up what Glenn meant to him and the group. Instead, he is hoping to exact an entirely proportionate revenge.

“Negan is interested in Daryl and is trying to break him. Daryl is a strong-willed animal. It's almost like a game to Negan. Daryl wants to rip his face off. He wants to kill him and he wants to kill Dwight, and he f*cking hates them.”