The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 might lose long term fans of the franchise

After Dead City Season 2 wrapped up with a lukewarm finale, it's now time for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3. The spin-off series of The Walking Dead franchise starring Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride is all set to release its third season on September 7, 2025. Ahead of the premiere, AMC has released a 36-second teaser for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3, and fans are not quite thrilled about it.

Despite high stakes and new settings, longtime fans fear the show is caught in a cycle of reused ideas, shallow villains, and throwaway characters.

Here's how the fans reacted to The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 teaser

"We don't want any more seasons in vain, we want everyone back together, we want the group back, not new stories without direction", wrote @ddandrep"

While another fan jokingly remarked,

"Daryl Dixon : Homecoming (S1),Daryl Dixon : Far From Home (S2), Daryl Dixon : No way Home (S3)" commented @synaxedits

"Just bring bro home already wrote @EmpereorRaph"

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The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3: Same formula, different country

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon trailer reveals that Daryl and Carol, having escaped France, are now in Spain. The plot hints at yet another detour from their original mission-getting home. Instead of progression, it feels like regression. The duo once again encounters survivors in peril and faces a vague new enemy. It's a scenario that's quite overused in the franchise.

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Too many deaths spoil the mood

One of the biggest criticisms plaguing both the spinoffs of the Walking Dead series is how the show treats its new characters and kills them off abruptly. From Ginny's death in Dead City Season 2 to Isabelle's in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2, the franchise maintains the emotional quotient by killing off characters close to the protagonists. While some characters were written off abruptly, like Ash and Laurent, who were sent to America.

The franchise tends to write off new characters to make way for legacy cast members. While this might protect the familiar faces, it robs the story of tension. The viewers are unable to develop a connection with the fresh faces, knowing well that they would either be killed off or written out in the upcoming chapters.

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Weak villains, predictable arcs

Even though Season 2's antagonist, Marion Genet's death was satisfying, it was relatively easy to take her out. Her death lacked the complexity and buildup that made past villains so popular.

The trailer for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 teases another new enemy with animal skull helmets, but offers no indication that the patterns will change. Long-term fans want layered villains and prolonged moral conflict-not generic threats that disappear by the season's end.

AMC needs to recognize that The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has the bones of a compelling endgame. Carol and Daryl's journey back home could be emotional, grounded, and full of grit. But the show must commit to the premise.

Season 3 might be a breaking point. If it fails to move the story forward and resolves its arcs with care, it could affect the ratings and the viewership.

Also read: Top 7 The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon episodes, ranked

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