Daryl Dixon Introduces a New Zombie: Burners

Just the Gist:

• The Walking Dead spinoff featuring fan-favorite character Daryl Dixon (played by Norman Reedus) will introduce fans to a new kind of zombie variant known as “burners.”
• These “burner” zombies will pose a new threat to the characters as they burn people who come into contact with them.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Episode 1 of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon.

In the 2023 spinoff series of AMC’s hit zombie drama, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon sees the fan-favorite character arrive on the shores of France. While audiences don’t yet know how or why Daryl ended up across the pond, we do know that he got there via “bad decisions” and because he was “looking for something.”

Because it’s The Walking Dead, there is no shortage of undead encounters. Immediately after scavenging for supplies in the market, Daryl stumbles into a swarm of walkers. But unlike the zombies Daryl has faced in America, these walkers are even more deadly, and they’re referred to as burners. So, what are burners?

After arriving at the market, Daryl must fight off a handful of zombies in order to stay alive. One of the zombies grabs his forearm and burns him. The new zombie variant that fans are introduced to in the series premiere episode is known as a burner.

“These zombies have mutated to a point where if they touch or bite you or their blood gets on you, it burns you significantly,” director and executive producer Greg Nicotero told TV Insider. “It changes all the rules.”

To help stop Daryl’s wound from spreading, a nun known as Sister Isabelle saves him and cauterizes it. This walker variant will surely present a new problem and threat for our titular character.

But this is not the first walker variant fans have seen within The Walking Dead universe.

In the OG series, fans may remember some walkers that can climb fences, known as “climbers,” or zombies that can pick up weapons, open doors, and revisit places they’ve been prior to becoming zombie-fied.

In Season 11 of The Walking Dead, Aaron touches on walker variants, saying, “We’ve all seen some [walkers] that come back to the places that they remember. I’ve heard stories about walkers like this that can climb walls and open doors. I was never sure if they were just stories. Maybe there’s other kinds, too. I hope not.”

While fans have only been introduced to acidic zombies in Episode 1 of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, there may be even more dangerous variants within the country.

The Walking Dead universe shows our characters having to survive a zombie apocalypse, but never really clued fans into how the virus originated, until now.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond post-credits scene in the Season 2 finale reveals to fans that France may have been where the virus started. The scene shows a scientist returning to a biomedical facility in France in hopes of finding a cure. However, she is attacked by a man who boldly states, “End this? You started this.”

With France seemingly being the birthplace of the deadly zombie virus, we can only assume that other walker variants, aside from the burners, will be revealed in Season 1 of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. At least, we hope so!

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC and AMC+.