Andrew Lincoln Told Norman Reedus He Picked the Wrong Time to Leave The Walking Dead

Andrew Lincoln had a bit of regret about leaving The Walking Dead before things picked up, according to Norman Reedus. Reedus, who plays Daryl on the AMC series, told Entertainment Weekly that he was having a conversation with Lincoln on the phone recently and while they were discussing the show’s creative resurgance, Lincoln wished he had stayed on a bit longer.

“It’s funny because I talked to Andy the other day,” said Reedus with a laugh. “And he was like, “Man, I picked the wrong time to leave the show because it’s so f—ing good right now.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, you did, dude. You picked the wrong time.’”

Reedus also told the site that his own newfound enthusiasm for the show is due to showrunner Angela Kang, who took over for the current season. “I love the risks that she’s taken,” he said. “I love what Angela’s doing to the show. She’s very punk rock, Angela Kang. She jumps in. There’s a confidence with our crew and with our cast and with our storytelling that we’ve earned over the years. If you’re going to take risks, now’s the time to take them, and they’re all paying off After nine years, you have to reinvent yourself a little bit. I just want to make the show that we want to make, and it feels like that’s what we’re doing. You can feel it in the crew. You can feel it in the cast. You can feel it in the scripts. It’s the show that we want to make.”

The Walking Dead airs its season finale this Sunday.