‘The Walking Dead’: Norman Reedus Won’t Like What Greg Nicotero Just Said

Norman Reedus isn’t going to feel quite as special after he hears a big Walking Dead secret that producer Greg Nicotero recently spilled. And no, Daryl Dixon fans shouldn’t start getting their torches and pitchforks ready just yet — the secret has nothing to do with the death of Norman’s beloved character.

Nicotero recently talked to Yahoo! TV about a big moment in last week’s episode of The Walking Dead (“Remember”). Some fans hated saying goodbye to Rick Grimes’ bushy beard; others were thrilled to see the handsome mug hiding underneath all of that scruff. Nicotero admitted that the scene also made him feel a few feels because he was in the bathroom with Andrew Lincoln while the shaving scene was being shot.

Nicotero called the moment a “fascinating experience” because of the way Andrew Lincoln responded to his changing face.

“He was so fazed out that I picked up the razor and had to shave most of his face down to a certain point, because he was just kind of in the zone.”

Greg Nicotero loved this memorable Walking Dead moment so much that he wanted a memento of Rick Grimes’ transformation. However, Andrew Lincoln had already promised Norman Reedus that he could keep his beard shavings.

“Andy was like, ‘Listen, I made a promise to Norman.’ But at that point, I thought this was kind of a cool moment, and I’m the kind of guy who keeps something from every episode I direct… Norman thinks he has all of it. I don’t even think he knows, or Andy knows, that I have a piece of it, too.”

As the Inquisitr previously reported, Norman Reedus is keeping Andrew Lincoln’s beard fresh by storing it in the fridge. Reedus has even shared a photo of the facial fur in a plastic sandwich baggie labeled “Rick’s beard.” According to Comicbook.com, Reedus claims that he’s keeping the beard so that he can clone Andrew Lincoln someday (Rickyl fans will find this weirdly bromantic). This would make a great zombie apocalypse backup plan — if Rick Grimes ever dies, Daryl Dixon could simply use his DNA to clone a new fearless leader. Daryl is definitely a sidekick character, so he needs to keep Rick around if he wants to be the best bad**s that he can be on The Walking Dead.

Norman Reedus’ obsession with faces goes beyond his love of the hair that grows on them — he also likes to lick them. According to UPROXX, Norman recently appeared on CONAN, and he finally explained why he always licks people’s faces. He used to do it to The Walking Dead producer Denise Huth simply to annoy her, but he enjoyed licking so much that he started putting his tongue on everything and everyone — his Walking Dead cast members, London monuments, and “Charlie Chaplin guys on the street” all felt the slimy embrace of Norman’s adventurous mouth muscle.

There’s an Urban Dictionary entry that defines “reedusing” as the act of licking someone on the face, and Norman says that sometimes dads actually ask him to lick their daughters. You can see him talking about his tonguing in the video below.

There’s no word on whether Norman Reedus going to mix Andrew Lincoln’s beard with water and freeze it — he could create “Ricksicles” so that he could enjoy licking Lincoln’s DNA even when Rickyl isn’t together.

Do you think Norman Reedus will give Greg Nicotero and Andrew Lincoln a good tongue lashing when he learns about their beard betrayal?

[Images via Norman Reedus/Instagram, Frazer Harrison/Getty]