TV’s Biggest Star, Thanks to The Walking Dead

How does one choose the star energy of a star? Particularly in an age the place the worth of a film star on the field workplace is on the decline, there are various components to contemplate: The wage they’re capable of command, the awards they’ve gained, their skill to get their ardour tasks made, or possibly even simply whether or not or not individuals acknowledge them as they stroll down the road. Which implies that whereas Norman Reedus won’t spring to thoughts as the most important identify on TV (particularly in an age the place the aforementioned film stars are crossing over to the small display often), proper now he’s positively thriving.

Having made his first look in The Strolling Useless’s third-ever episode, again in 2010, the fan-favorite star went on to seem in 175 episodes of the sequence, probably the most of any actor to seem on the long-running zombie sequence. And now, he’s acquired his very personal spin-off, the aptly-titled The Strolling Useless: Daryl Dixon, premiering Sunday, Sept. tenth on AMC.

Really, for accuracy’s sake — he doesn’t simply have his personal spin-off, he has his personal programming block. AMC is definitely leaning into this state of affairs — dubbing this Sunday’s premiere evening as “Night time with Norman, aka Une Nuit avec Norman.” — as a result of following Daryl Dixon is the season premiere of Journey With Norman Reedus. It’s the sixth season premiere of Journey With, to be actual; there have been 5 prior seasons of the docuseries that includes Reedus and superstar associates indulging in one among Reedus’s off-screen passions: bikes.

Financially, it’s a ardour he’s an excellent place to discover. In 2018, Reedus’s reported wage for The Strolling Useless was $1 million an episode, a wage that matches him with The Handmaid’s Story star Elisabeth Moss and ranks him slightly below established stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon (who had been every paid $1.1 million for the primary season of what would turn out to be The Morning Present). Oh, and it’s actually double what Oscar winner Sean Penn acquired for the short-lived Hulu sequence The First, that very same yr. No verifiable details about Reedus’ Daryl Dixon wage was accessible, but it surely seems like a good guess that it’s not less than on par with that 2018 fee, if not larger.

Reedus turning into one among TV’s greatest stars occurred comparatively regularly, as The Strolling Useless saved shedding forged members as seasons handed, along with his true ascendancy coming in 2018, when authentic sequence star Andrew Lincoln left the present and by default, Reedus, Melissa McBride, and Danai Gurira basically grew to become co-leads, with Reedus proving to be the one who would outlast all of them.

A significant factor in Daryl’s attraction was that sure, his preliminary introduction was largely caught up in his anger at Rick for leaving his (racist) brother to die — being related to Merle (Michael Rooker) from the soar wasn’t the strongest advice of his character. Nonetheless, when it got here to the enterprise of surviving a zombie apocalypse, he was competent.