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The Walking Dead Season 3: Why Daryl Dixon has a poncho - SciFiNow

The Walking Dead Season 3: Why Daryl Dixon has a poncho

The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus talks crossbows and ponchos in Season 3

The Walking Dead Season 3 Daryl Dixon

The Walking Dead Season 3 Daryl Dixon
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon (in a poncho) in The Walking Dead Season 3

Never let it be said that we’re not here with all the big news, speaking to Norman Reedus, the actor behind The Walking Dead Season 3‘s fan favourite redneck antihero Daryl Dixon, the actor revealed there’s an altogether more practical reason for him suddenly donning a poncho than channelling a spaghetti Western vibe.

“I have a poncho this season!” exclaimed Reedus. “It’s supposed to be a horse blanket I put a hole in. Carrying the crossbow – it’s supposed to be one of those weapons that you prop up, take the bolt out, put the bolt in – it’s not really an automatic weapon, so it’s become sort of this weird math problem.

“You can’t fire a real arrow on set, you have to dry fire – but you have to load the crossbow, so you have to see me load it, drop out of frame, pick it back up without any arrow in it, dry fire it, pick up the arrow, pull it out of some zombie’s skull, stab another guy in the brain with it, put it back in the crossbow, drop it out of frame… it’s just easier to do it in a poncho!”

There’s no denying it’s pretty damn cool though, rocking up on a hog with a crossbow, poncho swishing.

“That was all Frank Darabont – he created that character for me which was a great gift,” explains Reedus, “a blessing. The crossbow was his idea, the motorcycle was his idea – it’s hard not to look cool carrying a crossbow. It’s pretty cool, yeah. I have a lot of cool toys, that’s for sure. I’m having a blast with this character, he’s very rich and there’s a lot of subtle nuances that make him very rich. It’s a blessing, it’s by far my favourite job I’ve been in.”

The Walking Dead Season 3 is airing now on FX. The Walking Season 2 is available on DVD priced £24.99 and Blu-ray priced £27.99 from Amazon.co.uk.