(Spoilers about Daryl Dixon will be found below.)
The Walking Dead spinoffs are off to a promising start. Dead City felt like a meat-and-potatoes throwback for the franchise. Whereas Daryl Dixon not only breathes new scenery and life into this universe but also feels like the “big ass kicker” of the spinoffs thus far. Daryl’s inexplicable washing up in France is already starting to gel together with an explanation, too. That information, along with the nuns’ belief that Laurent is more than a little bit special, is fueling speculation on a few matters.
Is Laurent somehow immune to the Wildfire Virus? And is this spinoff’s setting somehow related to Daryl’s Season 1 exchange with Edwin Jenner at the CDC, where the scientist cryptically declared something about the French being the longest holdouts? And hey, are both of these questions actually red herrings?
The Jenner aspect has remained nebulous. With that CDC episode, the seemingly biggest development was Rick learning that no one was immune from the Wildfire Virus, and everyone already has it in their bodies. Jenner did briefly pop up in The Walking Dead: The World Beyond regarding his conversations with French scientists and, and at various times, this franchise has played around with variants and the ideas of immunity or a cure. Also, Fear The Walking Dead did introduce new atrocities by means of radiation experiments, based on June’s theory about a cure and the reason why Alicia did not fully succumb to a zombie bite.
So, it’s no surprise that immunity is being batted about among viewers (including on Reddit) of Daryl Dixon, and the thought isn’t being discouraged by a commonality that the series has with HBO’s The Last Of Us. In that series, Ellie developed immunity to Cordyceps after her mother was attacked by the infected while in labor. Similarly, Laurent’s mother was bitten very close to childbirth, and boy, that birth scene inside the convent probably looked like a case of possession to the priest. Of course, people are wondering what this means for Laurent (who was so named for a martyr of the Catholic Church, and maybe, just maybe, he’s a messiah).
As the Den of Geek articulately points out, however, the idea of there being a cure has been done to death already. Also, if Laurent had abilities to help “cure” the Wildfire virus, they would be giving this card away far too soon. This would potentially negate the need for further spinoffs or a Season 2 (which has already been greenlit) for Daryl Dixon.
I agree with the above, and my gut feeling says that the idea of a Laurent-based cure is a red herring. One reason for that hunch is that the viruses in The Last Of Us (spore-based) and The Walking Dead (airborne, rather than through a bite as originally considered by characters) are so different in transmission. It seems difficult to imagine a TWD mother being able to transmit immunity through a placenta immediately after “turning,” but hey, this is all fictional, so I suppose it’s barely possible. But also, don’t forget about those test subjects on the cargo ship, and like I’ve already said, there’s a lot going on in Daryl Dixon. We’ll simply have to wait to find out more as Norman Reedus’ newly bathed hero keeps moving across France.
AMC’s The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon airs on Sunday nights.