The following contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 1, Episode 5, "Deux Amours," which premiered Sunday, Oct. 8 on AMC.
The first season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is almost complete -- but there is still more to see from Daryl and his French allies and enemies. The series has already been renewed for a second season, meaning that Daryl's enemies have not completely given up on their quests for revenge. And among the reveal that another TWD survivor may be joining Daryl soon, "Deux Amours" hones in on the fatal consequences of treachery.
As Quinn steers all his focus on his ex-lover Isabelle, his current girlfriend Anna is pushed to the background, watching her boyfriend beg for another woman's love. Elseware, Codron continues to use Genet's resources to come closer to avenging the death of his brother, even if it means diabolically altering the genetics of walkers forever. Codron and Anna's actors Romain Levi & Lukerya Ilyashenko talk to CBR about their characters' revelations as of "Deux Amours," and taking matters into their own hands.
CBR: Lukerya, what was it about The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon that made you want to be a part of it?
Lukerya Ilyashenko: I've been a fan of The Walking Dead since Season 1. My favorite character is Daryl Dixon. When I first got the news from my agent that I actually got the part in the show, I could not believe it. I was totally shocked, and I still cannot believe that this thing is happening. The best thing to ever happen to me is to become a part of the Walking Dead universe.
Did you ever use the main show as a way to prepare coming into this world and for your character?
Ilyashenko: I rewatched the last few seasons of The Walking Dead to kind of refresh the idea of the show. When I got the script, I realized this show has a slightly different tone. The [Daryl] spinoff is a bit different. It's written more as literature. The script was written almost like a book -- a really great book which you read and you cannot stop. All those locations would make the story a little bit like a fairy tale in a good way. Then I found myself and I found Anna, and I thought that I should not stick to the main show because the world of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is different from other spinoffs and the main show. I was trying to get melodramatic in a good sense.
Romain, last time you spoke to CBR, it was before the show premiered -- so you didn't really have an idea of how people would react to it. Since then, how has it been seeing all the reactions from fans about the series and your character, specifically?
Romain Levi: The reviews are quite good about the show, so we are very happy. Personally, I have to say that even if I really believed in the script and in our team, I was scared a bit. It's not so easy to do a spinoff specifically about The Walking Dead after so many years. But at the end, I have to think that people are very happy about it. I'm very proud of it. I'm very happy for my friends too -- for all these actors and directors. It's touching [to] me because I know that this team really did everything they could to give something from their heart. For example, Daryl Dixon, he's a guy alone in this new country. But all the crew, all these American guys in Paris and Lukerya -- who is not from Paris, too -- they were living exactly [like] Daryl Dixon. They were alone in this weird city. Paris is beautiful, but it's not so easy to live here. I'm very happy for all of us. I'm very proud.
Getting into the specifics of the storyline, Codron discovers walker experiments in Daryl Dixon Episode 3. Can you break down what exactly is going through his head when he sees Genet's experiments for the first time?
Levi: Codron is really impressed, but at the same time, he's scared because he didn't know Genet was doing [these] kind of experiments. He felt danger at that moment. But you know what? It was too late. Codron was already involved with this team. He needs them to get what he wants. It's a mixed feeling. He's like, "Oh, this is dangerous. But at the same time, I have to be with them and I have to do what I have to do in order to get the American and take revenge." So it's a mixed feeling.
Lukerya, one interesting thing about your character is Anna's relationship with Quinn. She appears so much more interested in him than he is in her. Can you break down their relationship and how it drives her story?
Ilyashenko: Anna and Quinn have been together almost since the outbreak started. There is probably no more passion, but they are still partners. She still wants to get him to love her, but it wasn't going to happen even if Isabelle didn't show up. But now Isabelle shows up, and Anna realizes that Quinn actually never loved her and will never love her. So what [Anna] does in Episode 5, this is not because she's cruel. She's not the best person ever, but she was humiliated by Quinn so many times. He didn't even have the courage to approach her and say, "Hey baby, I'm sorry. This is not working out. I've got Isabelle and I loved her for all those years." That would solve the problem. [Anna] would be okay. She would back up, go do her own thing, and try to figure out how to live. But he didn't give her this conversation. That is so mean. That actually pushed her to go to Genet and say, "Hey, my ex-boyfriend has a boy, Laurent."
It's interesting that you bring up that she's not an entirely good person, but she's not an entirely bad person either. That's kind of how these characters function in this type of world.
Ilyashenko: They are not black or white...You don't have bad or good guys. It's very much like that in real life. That is why I think the audience can really stick to the characters [in Daryl Dixon]. Because they are very much like human beings. Nobody's 100 percent good or 100 percent bad.
On that note, Romain, viewers see a more human side to Codron because he talks about the promise he made to his parents to look after his brother. It shows that a villain is never really a villain in their own eyes. From your perspective, does Codron lean towards the good side of humanity, or the bad side?
Levi: As Lukerya said perfectly, [that's] what is good about this show. It's not good people or bad people. It's very interesting to get to understand those characters and to understand that it's not just black or white. As human beings, we never think we are on the bad side. Codron doesn't believe that at all. I'm not sure that Codron sees himself as a good guy. I think he's a kind of honest man, so he's aware of what he did in the past and why some events happened.
I don't want to say too much, but what I can tell you is that he has a heart. He wants to do things to help people in a way. But it's weird because sometimes you want to help someone and at the same time, you do exactly the opposite thing that you should do.
When you look back on your time on the show, what's the memory that sticks out to each of you?
Levi: What I really want to remember for the rest of my life is the guidance between all of us. We were all going in the same direction. These people have been so professional, and I always felt confident with this [creative] team. I really believe in this team and in the fact that we all wanted to help each other. My [acting] partner was doing his best for me to feel good, and I was doing my best as a character for my partner to feel good. It's like they take you, and they raise you in a way.
Ilyashenko: The same goes for me. The feeling of unity. When you realize that each and every person in the team wants to do the best they can is really rare in my experience. It was the feeling of being part of something so great.
The Season 1 finale of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon airs Sunday at 9:00 PM ET on AMC and AMC+.