The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Just Officially Beat Game of Thrones at Its Own Game

The Walking Dead's zombie apocalypse might mean freedom, endless downtime, and no jobs or taxes to pay, but there’s also a lot of fighting involved to stay alive. In the beginning, it was just a fight against walkers and the elements of nature. That was even hard enough for people still reeling from society’s downfall and adjusting to a life that was out of their control. As time went on, walkers and nature were still an uphill battle to defeat, but with the added struggle of humans being the enemy as well.

Some of the best fights in The Walking Dead’s history were the ones that were never expected. The Governor ambushing the prison in Season 4 of the main series saw the death of Hershel Greene and the destruction of the group’s home that they worked hard to upkeep. Troy Otto sending a horde of walkers to his own ranch as retaliation for his exile proved that humans would stoop to using the walkers as weapons to betray their own kind, all to demonstrate a point. When it comes to

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, fights between humans were to show one’s strength, only for Daryl or Carol’s enemies to underestimate their abilities. Nothing in recent years, however, has quite lived up to the recent fight sequences between Solaz del Mar and the Primitivos, executed on a

Game of Thrones scale that The Walking Dead has never achieved before.

The Walking Dead Almost Always Fell Short of Game of Thrones' Standards

The Walking Dead tried to go full

Game of Thrones in Season 10, Episode 11, "Morning Star," though it didn't exactly live up to the potential that it was teased to have. The episode takes place at the Hilltop, where the Coalition fights against the Whisperers' attack to protect the community. Airing not long after

Game of Thrones' final season, the battle was heavily compared to the Battle of Winterfell, only shorter and with better lighting. For that, The Walking Dead did win brownie points over

Game of Thrones. To note, the episode wasn't bad whatsoever. It was actually quite entertaining and tense, but it's no Game of Thrones. And the fact is, that's okay.

The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones have completely different tones, the former being more gritty on a smaller scale and the latter being more cinematic on a larger scale.

However, when it's asked to compare a television battle sequence to those of Game of Thrones, it will more than likely be underwhelming. Game of Thrones had its flaws in its final season, but it broke barriers in the television industry by bringing bold greatness often seen in film to the small screen. Its battles were a spectacle people looked forward to. Fans made watch party events out of them. The episodes featuring the Battle of the Bastards, The Battle of Blackwater Bay and Hardhome are considered some of the greatest television episodes of all time. A

Walking Dead episode with a massively lower budget that doesn't even feature the entire battle (the episode cuts from the pinnacle of the fighting to the aftermath) will fall below its expected standards.

The Walking Dead tried to imitate another show's identity that doesn't quite fit its mold. The Coalition soldiers were choreographing their own formations with shields, medieval swords, axes and spears, just like any army would've done on

Game of Thrones. It didn't fit the style and tone The Walking Dead had established for several seasons. The archaic armaments were silly for a show based in the 2010s. The display of the Dark Ages would've perhaps been more appropriate had the show been set many more decades into the future as society slipped backwards in time.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Finally Figures Out the Art of a Battle Sequence

After "Morning Star," The Walking Dead struggled with finding its own identity when it came to large-scale fight sequences. Whether in the main show or spinoffs, nearly every battle seemed like it belonged in another series. But even in old age,

The Walking Dead proves that new talents can be discovered. In Season 3, Episode 4 of Daryl Dixon, the survivors of Solaz del Mar are ambushed by the Primitivos, a nomadic group of barbaric enemies thirsty for turmoil. The unexpectedness of the attack puts the community into a state of urgency. People are panicked and shuffling to safety. Soldiers don't have time to put on suits of armor for protection. All they have is their wits and weapons.

Most of the weapons are applicable to the time the show takes place, as well. A couple of exceptions include a pretty old gun that Fede uses and the slingshots of burning walkers, which was a cool addition. It's refreshing to see

The Walking Dead stick to modernity rather than relying on medieval practices to appeal to that type of genre.

The disorderly conduct of the battle (which goes on for a good length of time) is the essence of what makes the best

Walking Dead fight sequences remarkable. Under these literal and metaphorical masks, these are ordinary people who once had jobs to get to, laundry to clean, and groceries to buy. They're as ordinary as they come. The apocalypse threw them into survivalist situations that they weren't prepared for. Several years later, they're still improvising in life-and-death scenarios because it's not ingrained in their DNA.

The attack on Solaz del Mar will probably come to be one of the most memorable moments in The Walking Dead history, and not because it "copies" Game of Thrones

. It's just as great as a Game of Thrones battle, but Daryl Dixon makes it unique to the world of the undead. The fight choreography, direction, stunts and props are all authentic to

The Walking Dead's grounded, modest tone. Is it too late to grab people's attention to tune into more of Daryl Dixon? Who knows. But The Walking Dead flaunting that it hasn't lost its magic touch will impress the current viewers enough to stick around for more.

13 Biggest Ways Strange New Worlds Retconned Star Trek Canon (So Far)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 has added even more retcons to the growing list of changes the prequel has made to

Star Trek canon. Strange New Worlds season 3 is primarily set in 2261 and made great strides towards its endgame of leading into Star Trek: The Original Series.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'

executive producers and co-showrunners, Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers, are lifelong fans of Star Trek: The Original Series, and they've recognized opportunities for Strange New Worlds to fill in blanks and answer long-held questions about

Star Trek's 23rd century.

Here are a baker's dozen ways that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has, so far, changed what was previously known about the final frontier.

Strange New Worlds Changed World War III & Star Trek’s Eugenics Wars

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' series premiere changed the date of World War III and conflated it with Star Trek's Eugenics Wars.

Star Trek: The Original Series established that those conflicts began in the 1990s, and Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) fled Earth that decade after his defeat in the Eugenics Wars.

As a warning to the people of Kiley 279, Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) revealed that Earth survived World War III, which took place in the mid-21st century. The Eugenics Wars also happened at that time, and this retcon had a ripple effect that directly impacted Khan.

Strange New Worlds Put Sam Kirk On The Starship Enterprise Before James T. Kirk

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' series premiere ended with the surprise reveal that a Kirk was already stationed on Captain Pike's Enterprise, but it was Lieutenant Sam Kirk (Dan Jeannotte), the mustachioed older brother of James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley).

Sam is a xenoanthropologist in the Starship Enterprise's Science division overseen by Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck), who dislikes the elder Kirk. Sam serving on the United Federation of Planets' flagship before Jim is his main source of bragging rights over his little brother.

Strange New Worlds Changed When Khan Was Born

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow," was a time travel romance that revealed Romulan temporal agents meddled with Star Trek's Prime Timeline.

When Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) time-traveled to Toronto in 2022, she discovered young Khan (Desmond Sivan) living in the Noonien-Singh Institute for Cultural Advancement.

This means Star Trek's Prime timeline changed Khan's canon so that he was born decades earlier, although how this reconciles with Star Trek: The Original Series' "Space Seed" is still unclear.

Strange New Worlds Completely Changed The Gorn

One of the biggest retcons by Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is its total overhaul of the Gorn, turning the alien reptiles into the show's primary villains in Strange New Worlds' first 3 seasons.

Eschewing the man in a rubber suit seen in Star Trek: The Original Series' "Arena," Strange New Worlds turned the Gorn into cannibalistic and violent marauders whose infants gestate in hosts like the Xenomorphs in Alien.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 9, "Terrarium," also revealed that the Gorn are more individualistic than the killer horde Starfleet sees them as. Lieutenant Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) befriended a Gorn pilot when they were stranded in a wormhole.

Strange New Worlds Revealed The Metron Before Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 9, "Terrarium" also ended with the Metron space gods revealing themselves to Lt. Erica Ortegas years before they do the same to Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) in Star Trek: The Original Series.

For inexplicable reasons, the Metron are fascinated with whether humans and the Gorn can co-exist. The Metron manipulated Ortegas to meet a Gorn pilot, just as they will force Captain Kirk to fight a Gorn Captain after their encounter on Cestus III.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers have also hinted that the Metron have altered reality, erasing knowledge shared by humans and the Gorn, to explain why Captain Kirk knows almost nothing about the alien reptiles in "Arena."

Strange New Worlds Confirmed Trelane Is A Member Of The Q Continuum

After the omnipotent Q (John de Lancie) and the Q Continuum debuted on Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987, Star Trek fans conjectured that Trelane (William Campbell) in Star Trek: The Original Series' "The Squire of Gothos" was a Q all along.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 2, "Wedding Bell Blues," brought Trelane (Rhys Darby) into the prequel era and confirmed that the cosmic meddler is a Q when his father, Q (voiced by John de Lancie), appeared to bring Trelane home.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers confirmed to ScreenRant that Q's cameo was meant to confirm that Trelane is, indeed, also a member of the Q Continuum.

Strange New Worlds Gave Uhura A Backstory & Love Interest

Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) has enjoyed a backstory and deeper characterization in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds than Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) ever received in Star Trek: The Original Series.

Uhura was also the person who introduced Lt. Spock to Lt. James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 6, "Lost in Translation."

Thanks to Strange New Worlds, audiences now know that Uhura was orphaned before she joined Starfleet Academy. Uhura also received her first love interest in Star Trek's Prime timeline: Beto Ortegas (Mynor Luken), the younger brother of Lt. Erica Ortegas.

Strange New Worlds Revealed Number One’s History & Romantic Past

Number One was one of the original Star Trek characters when she was played by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry in Star Trek's first pilot, "The Cage," but little was known about her past until Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) was revealed to be an Illyrian, a species that practices genetic engineering, by Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Number One was arrested and placed on trial by Starfleet, but Una was exonerated and returned to the USS Enterprise.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 8, "Four-and-a-Half Vulcans" introduced Doug (Patton Oswalt), a Vulcan spiritualist who was Una's former lover, and they still share an irresistible attraction to each other 15 years after they first dated.

Strange New Worlds Revealed Holodecks Were A 23rd Century Failure

Holodecks were first introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation as standard technology aboard Federation starships and starbases in the 24th century. However, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds revealed Starfleet had holodeck technology a century earlier.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 4, "A Space Adventure Hour," established that Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh tested the viability of holodecks aboard 23rd century starships.

Unfortunately, the drain on a starship's power caused by the holodecks made it impractical for use in the 23rd century. The Starship Enterprise gained holodeck technology called a recreation room in Star Trek: The Animated Series, years after Strange New Worlds.

Strange New Worlds Established Kirk’s First Time As Captain

Lt. James T. Kirk was promoted to Lt. Commander and became First Officer of the USS Farragut in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, but season 3 saw Kirk make a big leap towards his destiny as Captain of the Enterprise.

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 6, "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail," James became acting Captain Kirk for the first time, leading the USS Farragut in a successful rescue of the Starship Enterprise from a group of intergalactic Scavengers.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds revealed the Scavengers were the descendants of human scientists who left Earth in the 21st century.

The lessons about command and compassion Kirk learned as acting Captain of the Farragut will form the foundation of why James becomes a legend as Captain of the USS Enterprise.

Spock Has 3 Love Interests & His Brother Sybok Is In A Vulcan Prison

Spock's romantic history has been thoroughly explored in surprising ways by Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, starting with the revelation of how Spock's engagement to T'Pring (Gia Sandhu) ended, as well as the Vulcan Science Officer's brief romance with Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush).

Spock's current flame in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 is Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh, with whom the Vulcan shares a great deal in common, which the couple expresses through their intimate dance lessons.

In a shock, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 7, "The Serene Squall" revealed that Spock's older half-brother, Sybok, is held in a Vulcan prison, with T'Pring as his warden. Sybok also uses the alias Xaverius and is married to a space pirate named Captain Angel (Jesse James Keitel).

How Spock & Kirk’s Friendship Begins In Strange New Worlds

Spock and James T. Kirk's official first meeting in Star Trek canon was at the end of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 6, "Lost in Translation." Although they both admired and were intrigued by each other, Kirk and Spock weren't friends yet.

Kirk and Spock's friendship was truly forged in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 6, when Lt. Spock took it upon himself to help restore acting Captain Kirk's command confidence. Spock stood by Kirk against a doubting bridge crew, and Jim proved his mettle as a starship captain.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3's finale, "New Life and New Civilizations," revealed Spock and Kirk shared a mind-meld that created a deep and intimate understanding between them. Their mind-meld led to Kirk and Spock declaring they were officially friends, eternally bonding them in Star Trek: The Original Series and beyond.

Strange New Worlds Gave Captain Pike Another Future Before His Tragic Destiny

Captain Christopher Pike learned he would suffer a tragic accident that would disfigure and condemn him to a wheelchair in Star Trek: Discovery. Pike has learned to live with his destiny throughout Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

However, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3's finale let Pike live a different and happier future. Before she became the Beholder, the eternal warden of the malevolent Vezda, Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) used her powers to gift Pike and herself an alternate destiny.

In the reality created by Batel, Pike and Marie married, had a daughter, and lived happily together for decades until her death. Captain Pike's ultimate destiny is irrevocable, but Chris has the solace of having lived a better life with Marie, thanks to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Entertainment