Norman Reedus Previews The Walking Dead's "Devastating" Midseason Finale

The Walking Dead books an appointment for revenge at Grady Memorial Hospital in the show's midseason finale (airing Sunday, Nov. 30 at 9/8c on AMC). The fight is led by Daryl (Norman Reedus), who is especially driven to rescue his two beloved allies — Beth (Emily Kinney) and Carol (Melissa McBride) — being held captive by the hospital's menacing police brigade. "He's ready to just burn the place down," Reedus says. "It's a different world now, and certain people have gone so dark that you have to put down the rabid ones in order to survive."

Reedus describes the hour's final moments as so "devastating" that they unleashed an intense wave of feelings before the cameras rolled. "I sat on an apple box with my head between my legs and just bawled for an hour," he says. "I really wanted not to tear up during [the scene] — I wanted to be like I had wasted every tear in my body before we started shooting — so I just sat there and cried and cried and cried."

The tragic events will push Daryl into new emotional territory. "He's one of those characters where they keep dangling a carrot in front of him and he keeps reaching for it," Reedus says, "but the carrot falls in the mud right before he's about to get it."

The zombie drama will return on Feb. 8 for the second half of Season 5, and Reedus hopes the group of survivors will keep fighting as one unified front instead of splitting off: "When the band is all together, the music is much better!"

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