#mcreedus

You talked about NR and how he dislikes to act alongside Melissa [...] it's the worst kept secret.

(When you watch interviews and various soundbites, pay more attention to how Norman talks, his inflection and his body language rather than just the value of his words.)

Norman doesn't dislike to act alongside Melissa per se. He dislikes that she gets critical acclaim for her performances and he doesn't. And how people talk, you know? About how Melissa makes the other actors better, which I think he sees as a backhanded compliment, and what a great character trajectory Carol has had. Melissa is kind. She's humble. Funny. In Norman's mind, if he's not standing in the shadow of all of that... splendor, the general audience will see how artistic he is and praise him instead too.

"The worst kept secret" is what makes this whole situation more complicated than it has to be. Pretty much anyone with a set of eyeballs is aware of it, which includes TPTB. I'm not sure about Zabel because, in my limited personal experience, he's very unobservant, but his stubborn insistence that Caryl don't have romantic/sexual chemistry reads to me like he has a directive not to lean that way. Zabel isn't an imaginative writer and the ship is low-hanging fruit, so if he isn't using it, someone told him to steer clear.

[H]e wanted to do the show in 2020 with her as equals.

I need to point out that the 2020 deal wasn't equal. Norman was getting top billing and a lot more money than Melissa. That deal covered the first season of the original spinoff, so the NM roadtrip show probably wouldn't have featured McReedus "as equals" either. S2 might've because both of them would've reupped their contracts, but not in S1. The show title would probably have been better, though.

Do you mean it isn't overlooked at all (his pettiness) or do you mean the spin off isn't making much money…

Norman isn't the investment AMC thought he was when they gave him a solo show. There's no ROI on the spinoff and Ride wasn't a moneymaker either. Norman should be due for renegotiation and he doesn't have much leverage because the ratings are bad, the quality of TWD: Daryl Dixon is poor and he doesn't pull the size of audience AMC needs. The studio's already vastly overpaying him, so the show has to be made profitable (at the expense of Norman's wishes to be an auteur) or go away entirely. A surface change to a Western narrative (set in Spain) won't be the magic fix the stooges are looking for, but after S3, AMC won't be locked into terms that harm the show. We'll have to see how they course correct.

[M]aybe TPTB reconsiders their decision of a solo spin off and give Melissa more credit or at least equal treatment?

I hope AMC gives Melissa more input. She understands story structure and the genre, and she respects the integrity of the characters. The studio also has to do something about how misogynous the narrative is because it's a turnoff for potential viewers. The stooges seem utterly unaware of how hostile the narrative is to women, so giving Melissa equal treatment and actively listening to her professional opinions would be a solid step towards improving the show.