Norman Reedus looking over his shoulder in Daryl Dixon season 1 episode 2

Norman Reedus has boarded a new horror project. The star is best known for playing Daryl Dixon in the Walking Dead universe. Dixon, who is a hunter and the right-hand man of former sheriff’s deputy Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), is one of the most beloved and longest-running characters in the franchise. After appearing in more than 150 episodes of the flagship series following his debut in season 1, episode 3, Reedus went on to lead the cast of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, a spinoff that has so far run for two seasons.

Although the Walking Dead franchise has taken up the majority of his time since the original show premiered in 2010, Norman Reedus has starred in a number of horror projects both before and during his tenure as Daryl Dixon. In his early career, this includes taking on small roles in the Guillermo del Toro movies Mimic and Blade II, in addition to starring in the supernatural sequel Messengers 2: The Scarecrow. Other horror titles in which he has appeared include the 2019 video game Death Stranding and the 2012 medieval movie Night of the Templar.

Norman Reedus Will Star In Pendulum

The Horror Movie Is Being Produced By Darren Aronofsky

Norman Reedus as Daryl looking through a weapon's sight in The Walking Dead Daryl Dixon Season 2 Episode 6

Norman Reedus has now joined the cast of a new horror movie from filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky has directed a wide number of Oscar-nominated films, including 2000’s Requiem for a Dream, 2008’s The Wrestler, and 2022’s The Whale (which won two). While even his straightforward dramas tend to have intense and thrilling elements, other Darren Aronofky movies are more specifically horror-inflected, such as the 2010 ballerina psychological thriller Black Swan, which starred Natalie Portman, and the surreal 2017 Jennifer Lawrence movie Mother!.

Per Deadline, Darren Aronofsky is producing the upcoming horror movie Pendulum via the company Protozoa. The movie is currently in production in New Mexico under the auspices of Black Swan screenwriter Mark Heyman, who is making his feature directorial debut. The movie will star Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Phoebe Dynevor as a couple who become ensnared by a cultish group at a sinister New Mexico retreat, opposite Norman Reedus as the friend who brings the retreat to their attention. Read the synopsis of the movie below:

Pendulum follows young couple Patrick (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Abigail (Phoebe Dynevor) on a journey to a new-age retreat in New Mexico, drawn by the possibility of healing after a traumatic event. Patrick is willing to do anything to help his wife but becomes distrustful of the retreat’s enigmatic leader even as Abigail falls under her spell. As paranoia builds, the couple must determine if the group’s unconventional spiritual practices offer genuine healing or mask a terrifying truth that threatens to consume them both.

Pendulum is being fully financed by C2 and additionally produced by C2’s Dave Caplan and Motel Mojave’s Jacob Jaffke and Élan Klein Jaffke.

What This Means For Norman Reedus

His Horror Streak Will Continue

Norman Reedus as Daryl gives Laurent a guitar as a gift in The Walking Dead Daryl Dixon Season 2 Episode 6 While the horror genre has long been a part of Norman Reedus’ career, he has not appeared onscreen in a live-action horror-project outside The Walking Dead since 2012. As his biggest modern non-Daryl role is in the upcoming From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, his appearance in Pendulum seems to prove that he has no intention of leaving the horror genre any time soon, even though he is taking on roles in a wider range of genres after spending so long battling Walkers in various post-apocalyptic locales.