The cast of TV’s The Walking Dead is mourning the death of Seven, the animal actor who played Dog, the canine companion to Daryl.
After the sad news was announced Thursday on the official account of the AMC fan favorite — which read simply, “Rest in peace, Seven. #TWD’s best boy” — those involved with the show sent their love.
Norman Reedus, the actor who played Daryl throughout the horror series about the survivors of a zombie apocalypse and has continued to play him in spinoff The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, led the messages with photos of himself and Seven over the years in a post and his Instagram Stories, where he wrote: “Gonna miss u seven,” alongside a broken heart emoji. “Best tv buddy ever.”
Josh Stringer/AMC
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Lynn Collins, who played Leah, and Khary Payton (Ezekiel) left their love, as did Sabrina Gennarino, whose character was Tamiel, and Yvette Nicole Brown, who appeared as an actor on the show and as host of the Talking Dead aftershow.
Angela Kang, the final showrunner behind the series, which aired on AMC from 2010-2022, reposted the show account’s announcement and added, “RIP Seven,” alongside a crying face.
Reedus had asked for his character in the show — which costarred Andrew Lincoln, Danai Gurira, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Steven Yeun, and Melissa McBride — to have a dog for a while before it actually happened in the ninth season of the series. Daryl took in Dog after his original owner, Daryl’s love interest Leah, left him behind.
Reedus raved about working with Seven in 2018, according to ComicBook.com.
“We just did a scene the other day that ended up being the opposite of what it was supposed to be because the dog just wanted to do something else, and it came out so much better,” Reedus told the outlet. “He’ll probably be running the show. It’s great! I love it. He loves me, too.”
