I’m a little bleary-eyed these days as I haven’t had much sleep in the past couple of weeks. I’ve been having a zombiethon – binge-watching The Walking Dead. Two weeks ago I’d never seen a single episode; now I’m all caught up and eager to see where the current season is going to go. I’ve checked out a few Talking Dead clips and played the zombie survivor game (I’d last about a year and a half, which is a lot longer than I expected). In short, I’ve become a bit obsessed with the show, its characters and its cast. There is a lot of Internet speculation as to which character will die next, and conspiracy theories about how the series might end. And there is even speculation on whether one of the show’s main characters, Daryl Dixon, might be gay. Actor Norman Reedus has publicly dismissed rumors that “he begged producers not to make Daryl gay” for fear that it would hurt ratings and disappoint his female fans: “Insiders say he fears the same-sex shocker would hurt ratings by disappointing his legions of female fans. Norman isn’t anti-gay in his personal life, but he’s become one of the biggest male sex symbols in television. He gets thousands of fan letters from women each week – along with dozens of marriage proposals,” reports The Inquisitor.
“This is total bs by the way,” Reedus stated matter-of-factly. But would it matter? The character of Daryl is probably the most popular on the show, and has a solid, perhaps even rabid, female fan base. Does The Walking Dead need a gay character? Actually, it already has one: Tara Chambler (Alanna Masterson.)
