The Walking Dead's Andrew Lincoln sparks rumors of a Rick Grimes cameo in Daryl spin-off after being spotted in Paris

The Walking Dead fans have convinced themselves Rick Grimes might appear in one of the franchise's upcoming spin-offs after Andrew Lincoln was spotted in Paris. A new series, centering on Norman Reedus' Daryl Dixon, is currently filming in the French capital.

On October 18, Twitter account AndyLincolnNews shared a selfie someone took with Lincoln on the Rue des Rosiers. While the British actor could be on vacation or simply have crossed the channel to pay a friendly visit to his former co-star, Reedus previously teased that Daryl does not go to France on his own accord, suggesting that he's shipped off there by someone – or something – else. 

Across the main show, Fear the Walking Dead, and The Walking Dead: World Beyond, the helicopter-owning Civic Republic Military have been plucking survivors out of their surroundings and plonking them elsewhere – so they're likely involved with his reluctant location-hopping. They ferried Rick off to a mysterious place, after he was gravely injured in season 9. Might they do the same with Daryl, and could that lead to Daryl and Rick reuniting, before the latter catches up with Michonne (Danai Gurira) and they go off on their own adventures? Only time will tell.

"Daryl is a fish out of water to start with. If Daryl finds himself with new people, he's a fish out of water. In France, in a country that's going through the apocalypse, [it's] an entirely different thing," Scott M. Gimple, The Walking Dead's chief content officer, previously said during the Talking Dead: The Walking Dead Universe Preview 2022 special. "He finds himself having to reinvent himself again, having to find himself again, and also, not being with – probably – the only people in the world he's comfortable with."

Interestingly, France has been mentioned in The Walking Dead a few times before. Longtime viewers will remember that CDC scientist Edwin Jenner told Rick and the gang that the French were the "last ones to hold out" when it came to the undead's emergence – and said that the nation was the closest to finding a cure. Jenner's communications to Europe didn't last long, however, and we're now more than a decade on in the story, so things may have changed since then.

When the yet-to-be-titled Daryl series was first announced in September 2020, the original's showrunner Angela Kang teased that it would see Daryl and Melissa McBride's Carol Peletier go on a "zombie apocalypse road trip". McBride later dropped out of the project due to the extensive travel required during shooting.

The Walking Dead continues on Sunday, October 23 on AMC in the US, and will air in the UK on Disney Plus the following day. AMC+ subscribers can tune into each episode a week early. Make sure you never miss an episode with our The Walking Dead season 11 release schedule, and check out our how to watch The Walking Dead guide if you want to watch/rewatch the main series and its spin-offs.