It’s official, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is returning for its third season—and the excitement is off the charts. Mark your calendars for September 7, because AMC just dropped the date alongside some juicy new photos and a teaser that flips expectations on their undead heads.
Let’s just say this: if you thought Daryl and Carol were about to have a smooth reunion or a peaceful European stroll through post-apocalyptic England, think again.
From England to... Spain?
When Season 2 wrapped, we last saw Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) wading through eerie, glowing zombie swarms in a tunnel headed for England. So naturally, the next step would be London’s ruins or the cliffs of Dover, right? Not quite.
Instead, the Season 3 teaser starts somewhere totally unexpected—a sunlit, sandy outcropping that screams Spain, complete with the twang of a soulful Spanish guitar and crowds dancing and celebrating amid sun-bleached buildings. It’s vibrant, unfamiliar, and jarringly calm… which means something dark is definitely coming.
And right on cue, Daryl’s gravelly voice echoes through the teaser:
“It felt like somethin' got lost, the chance to really have somethin’.”
Carol adds softly:
“First you survive what happened to you, then you start living again.”
That’s the emotional core of the teaser—two battle-worn survivors, clinging to a glimmer of life after 15 years of death and loss. It’s beautifully haunting, and for a moment, you almost believe they might get a break.
But This Is The Walking Dead—Hope Never Comes Easy
Of course, that moment is short-lived. The second half of the teaser shifts gears with hard, brutal force.
Cue the chaos:
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Swarms of walkers.
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Gritty hand-to-hand combat.
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Explosions.
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Desperate defenses behind crumbling city walls.
Just as the title card drops—“A new fight begins”—you’re reminded that this is The Walking Dead, not a European vacation.
Daryl ends the teaser on a bittersweet note:
“A friend of mine used to say, ‘Bet on hope.’”
It’s a rare moment of optimism from the famously stoic survivor, but after everything he and Carol have endured, it's clear they've earned the right to believe in something more than just staying alive.
What We Know About Season 3 So Far
AMC’s official logline lays it out like this:
“Follow Daryl and Carol as they continue their journey to somehow return home and to the ones they love. As they struggle to find their way back, the path takes them farther astray, leading them through distant lands with ever-changing and unfamiliar conditions as they witness the various effects of the Walker apocalypse.”
Basically: the world is bigger than they thought, and more broken, too.
Season 3 will premiere on AMC and AMC+ on Sunday, Sept. 7, and the teaser was first aired during the Season 2 finale of The Walking Dead: Dead City—another spinoff in the ever-growing TWD universe that sprang from the original comic series by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard.
Spain’s the New Battleground – And It’s Got Some Fresh Blood
One of the most exciting changes this season? The cast expansion.
Joining Reedus and McBride are several prominent Spanish actors who bring international flair and new dynamics to the series:
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Eduardo Noriega
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Óscar Jaenada
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Alexandra Masangkay
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Hugo Arbués
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Greta Fernández
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Gonzalo Bouza
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And even Stephen Merchant, who’s known for his dry wit, joins the mix.
It’s a major cultural shift for the series, setting it up for new alliances, unfamiliar threats, and probably a few betrayals along the way.
The Bond That Refuses to Die
At the heart of the show—no matter how many spin-offs, new characters, or exotic zombie encounters—are Daryl and Carol. These two have been through hell and back, and they’re the last of the Season 1 OGs still standing. That emotional weight runs deep.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, McBride and Reedus looked back on their shared journey. Reedus reminisced about one of the early scenes that bonded them both on-screen and off:
“You had to put down your husband, and I kept handing you a bloody pickaxe,” he said, half-laughing. “I kept dipping it in a bucket of brains and blood… and the final time, you just yanked it out of my hand and I’m like, ‘God, I love her.’”
To which McBride responded:
“They are the only two left. They were so close in the beginning, and they have a very long, tight bond. It’s been challenged so many times. And to tell this story now, all these years later, is just beautiful to me.”
It’s that relationship—the rare, unwavering connection between two post-apocalyptic warriors—that keeps fans coming back. Their friendship has never been romanticized or sugarcoated. It’s raw, tested, and forged through mutual survival. And this season looks like it’s ready to test that bond in ways we haven’t yet seen.
What to Expect (And Why You Should Be Hyped)
🧟 New Geography – The sun-drenched Spanish coastlines and ancient ruins are a stark visual shift from the murky woods and crumbling American cities we’re used to. Expect breathtaking backdrops… and fresh zombie designs.
⚔️ More Intimate Combat – From what we’ve seen, hand-to-hand brutality is back. No big military units here. It’s personal, close-range, and desperate.
🎭 Deeper Character Work – Daryl and Carol aren’t just surviving anymore. They’re trying to figure out if there’s still a life worth living.
💥 Twists, Twists, Twists – With so many new faces and foreign factions in play, expect shifting loyalties and unexpected deaths. TWD’s signature move is to kill off characters we care about, and this season won’t be any different.
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