“I think everyone on set was crying that day…”

The Walking Dead season seven’s 10th episode ‘New Best Friends’ saw a couple of old best pals, Daryl and Carol, reuniting for a fairly emotional scene.

As it turns out, it wasn’t just the characters who felt the power of that moment – Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride did too.

According to Reedus, there were plenty of tears on set that day.

What was it like working with Melissa McBride again? We haven’t seen a scene with you together for so long…

Norman Reedus: “Right? It’s been forever! It was great, it was one of those days where we were both really excited to go to work.

“Before the first take, we tried to stay away from each other a little bit, to keep it fresh, we did a rehearsal and the doors opened and we both just burst into tears. I think everyone on set was crying that day.

“We have such a rapport, there’s a lot of Norman in those scenes, there’s a lot of Melissa in those scenes. She’s one of my best friends, so every time an episode comes on we’re texting throughout the whole thing to each other. I don’t know, they have a tight thing.”

Greg Nicotero, executive producer: “I think the reason the show’s as viable and as popular after seven years, is the honesty that these people exude. As someone who directs a lot of the episodes, part of my job is just figuring out where to put the camera to let these guys do what they’re so good at.

“Every single actor that’s come on the show, there is such a dedication and such an honesty to what they bring, I really attribute a lot of that to why the fans are still in it, why you still care what happens to everybody. You don’t see Carol and Daryl together for a while, then when you do, all the emotion of all those past moments come flooding back.”

How’s Carol going to react when she finds out that Daryl’s been lying to her?

Norman Reedus: “I’ve thought about this – I think she’s going to go, ‘Man, I knew you were lying.’ I think she knows him so well, she’s going to say, ‘I just let you lie.’

“I don’t think she would hold it against him, I think she would know the reasons he didn’t tell her.”

We spoke to the gang on the London stop of the #TWDEuroTour, and you can see The Walking Dead on Mondays at 9pm on FOX.

Sam is an entertainment writer with NCTJ accreditation and a twenty-year career as a film journalist.

Starting out as a staff writer at Total Film, moving up to Deputy Online Editor, Sam was responsible for Total Film’s YouTube channel, where he revolutionised the magazine’s approach to video junkets, creating influential formats that spread to other outlets.

He’s interviewed a wide range of film icons, including directors such as David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay and Sam Raimi, as well as actors such as Meryl Streep, Nic Cage, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Anne Hathaway, Margot Robbie, Natalie Portman, Kermit the Frog, all of the Avengers and many more.

Sam has also interviewed several comic creators, including Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and he has a zombie cameo in The Walking Dead comic.
In 2014, Sam went freelance, working directly for film studios including Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Disney, as well as covering red carpet events for film marketing company PMA Productions.

Sam is the co-host, producer and editor of the Arrow Video podcast, which has seen year-on-year growth since its creation in 2017, gaining over half a million listens in that time.

His byline has appeared in outlets such as Yahoo, MTV, Dazed, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Good Housekeeping among others.

In 2012, Sam made it to the final of the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year competition, and went on to become a filmmaker himself, directing three features that have all played major festivals, and secured distribution – starring in two of them.

Jim Carrey once mistook Sam for Johnny Cash, and John Carpenter told him to ‘Keep up the good work.’ He promises to try his best.