The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon showrunner breaks down that London-based twist in season 3, episode 1: "We had this idea of the only living human in England, and we wanted to tell that story"

London falling! 15 years into The Walking Dead franchise and we've finally been given a glimpse as to how the UK dealt with the Wildfire Virus and, well, the apocalypse hasn't been good to our tea-loving pals...

Despite earlier mentions of England in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon suggesting that it hadn't been affected too badly by the outbreak, season 3 episode 1 fully pulled the rug out from under us. The premiere opens with Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) walking inland from Folkestone, on the Kent coast, to a devastated, zombie-infested London – and showrunner David Zabel says it was his affection for the capital city that led to the dramatic reveal.

"I love London so much that I thought it would be exciting to see it in its most deteriorated condition, I thought that would be exciting," he tells GamesRadar+. "It's love, it's not hate that made us want to destroy London. But, also, we had this idea for this character who's the only living human in England, and we wanted to tell that story – and in order for that to make sense, it sort of had to all be ruins around him. Then, of course, we hit the jackpot and got Stephen Merchant. So it all worked out. I hope no one takes offense. [Director] Daniel [Percival] was the one who had to actually destroy London, we just wrote it..."

"I actually think it was wonderful, as we've built it up in the previous seasons as somehow the UK was functioning better," Percival added. "To be honest, we don't know what's happening outside of London, but London has its own story and London has been visited by many eras of destruction in its past. I'm sure it'll recover. You don't have to worry. It'll come back somehow. But what I love about it, from an audience's point of view, is the idea of a city of 10 million people being utterly destroyed is unimaginable and, and I think the show needs that sometimes, to see how a few wrong decisions can take you down this path. Yeah, and you'll become victims again; how tenuous the hold on survival is."

In London, Carol and Daryl cross paths with Julian Chamberlain (Stephen Merchant), the self-proclaimed "last Englishman in England". As the trio sit down for dinner one evening, Julian explains that he's "not seen another person in, God, many years".

"We sealed [the Channel Tunnel] off to protect ourselves from Europe," he goes on, which strikes us as a not-so-subtle nod to Brexit. "Things were manageable for a while, until they weren't." He concludes by saying that both walkers and humans got out of control, with the latter breaking into tribes and going after other groups: "People tried to flee but first no one could get in, and then no one could get out."

"Stephen was great," gushes Reedus. "I think everyone thought he was just going to be super funny all the time. But his serious stuff was so compelling. It's interesting, that thing… people who have comedic timing and are good at comedy, there's a weird underlying darkness there. And when [Stephen] gets serious, there's something about him; you don't know if he's gonna snap or he's gonna cry, but he was really good at that. I was really blown away."

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 continues on September 14 on AMC and AMC Plus in the US. Don't miss an episode with our guide to The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 release schedule. A UK premiere has yet to be officially announced, but we'll be sure to keep you posted.

In the meantime, check out our guide on how to watch The Walking Dead in order and The Walking Dead recap.