The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus is paying tribute to his onscreen canine companion.
The hit AMC show confirmed via its official Instagram page on Thursday, June 13, that Seven, the animal actor who played Daryl Dixon’s trusted sidekick, Dog, has died.
“Rest in peace, Seven. #TWD’s best boy,” the show’s Instagram captioned a series of photos of Seven.
Reedus led tributes to his onscreen best pal via his own Instagram.
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“7,” Reedus, 55, captioned a photo of him and Seven hanging out on set. “Will miss u buddy,” he commented under the post.
Reedus also shared behind-the-scenes pictures with Seven on his Instagram Stories, writing: “Gonna miss u seven. 
Best tv buddy ever.”
Seven appeared in multiple seasons of The Walking Dead beginning with season 9. In the final episode of The Walking Dead, which aired in November 2022, Daryl (Reedus) entrusted Dog to his adopted niece, Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming), as he left Alexandria to search for his friends, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira).
Reedus had petitioned for a dog for Daryl for several seasons before Dog was introduced in season 9.
Former Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang told Entertainment Weekly in 2018: “It’s this thing that’s kind of been batted around for a long time, and it never happened.”
Kang said that Reedus helped pick his four-legged costar, who was introduced to help Daryl deal with Rick’s presumed death.
“So we were talking about, how can we show the state that Daryl’s in? And I thought that it would be great that he’s been off for a while after Rick’s presumed death. Daryl just went off. And Daryl is somebody who hunts and goes about and does things, and it seemed like a dog is a good companion,” Kang said. “It shows that there’s still a desire for him to have a connection somehow. And so the dog is his faithful companion.”
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Reedus gushed over working with Seven back in 2018, too.
“It’s so good. I love it. I think he’s the smartest cast member we got,” Reedus told 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. He’ll probably be running the show. It’s great! I love it. He loves me, too.”
