Daryl Dixon, played by Norman Reedus, is one of the iconic characters of AMC’s The Walking Dead . Appearing in the first season as a redneck throwaway character, fans immediately took to Daryl, with his insecurity and chip on his shoulder shaped exactly like his elder brother, Merle (Michael Rooker).
Daryl was not a talker, but a doer. Quickly, he became established as Rick Grimes’ (Andrew Lincoln) right-hand man, the one who was prepared to get his hands dirty. The muscle, if you like.
Over the years, fans have commented on just how little Daryl Dixon says during episodes. Sometimes, it seems like he is only grunting or shouting a few words out as he attempts to get his point across.
Now, a Walking Dead fan has put in the hours and crunched the numbers to find out exactly how much Daryl Dixon has said up until, and including, Season 8.
According to Forbes , a chart was established by Redditor Da1tonTheGreat that shows the breakdown of Daryl’s words throughout eight seasons of The Walking Dead .
And, according to the data, Daryl had a real slump in the words department during the last two years when the group was involved in the All Out War with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).
Forbes lists the details of the chart below.
- Season 1 (4 episodes Daryl appeared in) – 1067 words, average 267 words an episode
- Season 2 (12 episodes) – 2214 words, average 185 words an episode
- Season 3 (13 episodes) – 2008 words, average 155 words an episode
- Season 4 (11 episodes) – 2627 words, average 239 words an episode
- Season 5 (14 episodes) – 1311 words, average 94 words an episode
- Season 6 (12 episodes) – 1131 words, average 94 words an episode
- Season 7 (10 episodes) – 496 words, average 50 words an episode
- Season 8 (15 episodes) – 1040 words, average 69 words an episode
As you can see, Daryl Dixon started off with plenty to say in the first season. And, considering the first season was the shortest season, this is a considerable amount of words if you add everyone else into the equation.
However, as the seasons progressed, Daryl’s words declined per episode until we get to the bottom of the speaking barrel in Season 7 with a bare 50 words per episode being spoken by Daryl Dixon. Prior to that, seasons 5 and 6 were not much better, with him averaging only 94 words per episode of The Walking Dead in which he appeared. Then, in Season 8, things started to pick up once more with Daryl Dixon being able to mutter 69 words on average per episode.
As Season 9 of The Walking Dead starts, it will be interesting to see if Daryl Dixon has more to say now that the communities have joined together and with Rick leaving the series.
Season 9 of The Walking Dead returns to AMC with Episode 4 (titled “The Obliged”) on Sunday, October 28, at 9/8c. AMC lists the following synopsis for this episode.
“Rick’s vision of a civilized future is threatened by a sudden reckoning with past sins that remain unavenged and unforgiven.”
